Still Waters Run Deep
by RedPBass
Summary: Someone's looking for Akira, but is he there to help or hurt? And more importantly, who sent him to Mahora, and why? Features OCs. Newly edited as of 5/13/2010.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes**: This is the updated, re-edited version of Still Waters 1. I rewrote the first five chapters and fixed little errors among the others, but the story itself hasn't changed, and I have left the original author's notes as they were for the most part. I hope you like it.

Original Author's notes: I own nothing but the OCs. No song lyrics, not the characters or locations or anything that I didn't make up myself. I know I'm a bit late to the OC party, what with all the albino zombies, british people, badass longcoats, and etc. who already populate the Negima section, but here's my small offering to the OC pile anyway. Also, this is meant to be an Akira story rather than an OC story…I probably failed with that part, though.

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**Still Waters Run Deep:** Let it be, let it be.**  
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June 1st, 2003

A tall black haired man strolled casually through the streets of Mahora, hands stuffed into the pockets of his light jacket. After a moment, he pulled out a picture of his quarry; a young Japanese girl. While he did have the picture, he had little else to go on; the girl was quite unremarkable. Pretty but not beautiful, tall but not a giant among the Japanese. Long black hair. Japan was full of girls just like her. He did have a name to go on, however, along with his boss's assurance that she was in this particular town.

He sighed in exasperation and stuffed the wrinkled picture back into his pocket. He continued walking.

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"Oh wow, did you see him? He's really creepy! He looks at you with his creepy gray eyes, then ignores you. It's really weird!" Makie exclaimed.

Akira made a small smile at that. Makie was overexcited again, going on about some strange foreigner she had seen around town the last few days. She listened as she continued washing the dishes.

"I've seen him too, he kind of scares me..." This came from Ako, who was seated at the desk, trying to do homework while Makie paced restlessly around the room. She too had noticed the man several days earlier. Her first thought had been that he looked rather pale and unhealthy, and that bothered her. People who looked as if they could keel over at any moment tended to bother her, whether they were creepy or not.

"I bet he's from Europe!" Makie said suddenly as she stopped pacing. "I wonder if Negi-kun knows him?"

"Now Makie, just because he's from Europe doesn't mean that he knows Negi-sensei," Ako lectured, holding up one finger for emphasis.

Akira just listened quietly as she finished the dishes. After putting the last plate in the rack to dry and letting out the water, she turned around and had to grin at the spectacle before her. Makie had loudly decided that the man was a prince or something from Transylvania (because he was obviously like a vampire or something), while Ako had turned pale at the thought of people sucking blood.

Akira dried her hands and headed for the door, glancing in the mirror on the way.

"Wait, where are you going?" Makie demanded. "I'm not done working out the mystery vampire prince's motives yet!"

Akira stopped and smiled again. Makie had such a good imagination. "I'm going to pick up a few things for dinner. I'll be back in an hour or so, so finish your homework, okay Makie?" she said in a motherly tone while Ako giggled into her hand and Makie just looked embarrassed and laughed awkwardly.

Akira nodded. "I'll be back later." She waved and stepped out into the hall, pulling the door shut behind her. She stood in the hallway for a moment, going over what she needed to buy and thinking absently about what Makie had been talking about earlier. A European vampire prince from Transylvania, huh? She smiled and headed for the stairs.

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"Have you seen this girl?" the tall man asked in rough Japanese.

Natsumi shrank back a bit at the stranger's sudden interruption, but looked at the picture he held out anyway. She frowned. Now why was this stranger looking for Akira? The picture was a few years old and the hairstyle was different, but it was definitely her classmate Akira. This might be bad.

"I-I don't know who that is," she stuttered. 'Wait. Calm down. Breathe. Pretend you're up on stage, put on a good act,' Natsumi told herself. She breathed in deeply, held the breath, let it out, and nodded. Calm. "I've never seen her before. Are you sure you're in the right place?" she asked, suddenly looking for all the world like a bored teenager with nothing much to do instead of a freaked out teenager trying to send away someone that may or may not be stalking a classmate.

The man cocked an eyebrow and Natsumi sweatdropped. It was obvious he didn't believe her. She straightened up and put on a show of ignoring him as she glanced around, looking for someone to help. 'There!' Sure enough, she spotted a familiar face coming across the crosswalk at a fast pace.

"Chizuru-san!" Natsumi said as she watched the taller girl stalk along the sidewalk and step in front of her to get the stranger's attention.

"Are you bothering her? If so, I will not allow it!" Chizuru said, glaring up at the tall man. He just looked a bit curious and said something in what sounded like English.

"Whew, that was a long run," Negi said as he trotted up, trying to catch his breath. Asuna and Konoka followed. After a brief attempt to catch his breath, he rounded on the stranger.

"Are you trying to assault one of my students? I'll have you know that such a thing is not acceptable! We have rules here, and--"

Natsumi heaved a sigh of relief as Negi berated the man, who looked a bit confused and began thumbing through a Japanese-English pocket dictionary. Negi continued on for a moment before he was interrupted.

"Do you speak English?" the tall man asked in Japanese.

"Yes, but what does that--" Negi started.

"Have you seen this girl?" the man said, showing the old picture of Akira to Negi.

Negi, naturally, was shocked. "Why do you have a picture of Akira-san? I'll have you know that such things are not permitted here. We have rules here, and everyone is expected to..." Negi trailed off on his now-familiar speech as he looked at a card the man had passed him.

"You're a...?"

The man nodded.

"From..."

Another nod.

"Akira-san? Are you sure?"

Yet another nod.

Negi turned turned to his companions. "I'm sorry, I'll have to call it a day. I'll see you back at the dorms, okay?"

Everyone just looked at him blankly for a moment.

"Eeeeehh?"

Asuna looked ready to argue, but Negi quickly took her aside and whispered to her.

"He knows about magic. He was sent from the American Division; it's official business."

Asuna looked from Negi to the tall man and back, and finally nodded. "I don't like him, but I guess it's you're business. I'll take Konoka back to the dorm room. Don't be too long, okay?" she whispered.

Negi nodded and stepped back to stand beside the stranger. "Goodbye Asuna-san, Konoka-san. Chizuru-san, Natsumi-san," he added, nodding to the other two students. "I'll see you later!" And with that, Negi and the stranger walked away, leaving behind a mildly annoyed Asuna and a thoroughly confused Natsumi standing on the sidewalk with the others.

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Negi and the American walked silently. The man took long strides, and Negi almost had to run just to keep up.

"This should do," the man said after a moment, gesturing to a rather dark and deserted alley. Negi sweated.

"I know a nice cafe that's usually empty this time of day. If we speak in English, no one will understand what we are saying," Negi said, suspiciously eyeing the dark alley. He had never liked places like that... Way too scary.

The tall man just nodded and let the boy lead the way.

As they walked, Negi took the time to look the strange man over. He was incredibly tall, probably six and a half feet at least! A bit stocky looking as well in his shapeless clothes, he seemed quite strong. With his much worn clothing and his shaggy mop of black hair, Negi thought it was no wonder people tended to move to the other side of the street when he walked by. He looked like the sort of person that would pull out a knife at the slightest provocation.

The two of them soon arrived at the cafe and soon found themselves seated and awaiting the drinks they had ordered. Negi fidgeted as he tried to think of something to say to break the awkward silence when the tall man beat him to it.

"I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Max Linell, from the American Division. Nice to meet you," he said, holding out his hand. Negi took his hand and shook it.

"It is nice to meet you, Mr. Linell. I am Negi Springfield, from Wales."

The two of them looked at each other awkwardly for a moment as they scrambled for a topic.

"Springfield, wasn't it? Are you related to Nagi Springfield? The Thousand Master?" Max asked.

"You know my father?"

"Er...no," Max said, feeling strangely embarrassed at Negi's excited expression. "I know of him, but I never knew him personally. So, you're his son, huh?"

Negi nodded, and the awkward silence was broken as the two exchanged information about recent events in the magic community. Finally, Negi could take it no longer and asked the question that had been nagging at him.

"But tell me Mr. Linell, why are you looking for Akira-san?"

"Call me Max," he said, grimacing. "And honestly, I'm not quite sure. I was just told to find her and observe her until further orders arrive. I've got no idea as to what purpose I'm serving here. They didn't even give me much notice before sending me here, so I wasn't able to prepare as well as I'd like."

"Prepare? Prepare for what?" Negi asked curiously. Every answer this man gave him only left him with more questions...!

Max grinned crookedly; it was quite ugly. "Anything. My usual job, I guess you could say, is to work as an agent to sow discord among the enemy." He paused, and his ugly grin widened slightly. "Apparently I'm pretty good at it. Anyway, this is out of my league and I've got no clue how I ended up getting assigned here. My usual jobs are quick, just a few days to soften up the enemy before the main group shows up."

They fell into another awkward silence while Negi tried to absorb just what it was that Max Linell did while Max wondered if he had said too much. Luckily, their waitress arrived soon after and dragged their focus toward their orders.

Max thanked the waitress and picked up his coffee cup, eyeing it suspiciously. He took an experimental sip and grimaced.

"What the hell is this? It tastes like dishwater!"

Negi just looked at him in confusion. 'I thought it was quite good...'

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Roughly an hour later, Max and Negi left the cafe and said goodbye, heading their separate ways. Max, having made contact with one of the local mages, located a nearby phone booth and made a call to his contact in Tokyo to report what had occurred thus far. He gave a quick, concise report to the automated recording system, let the contact know he was done, and finished the call. He placed the receiver back in its cradle and exited the phone booth.

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Akira wandered along, unable to escape the feeling that she was being drawn toward something. It was odd and made her feel more than a little uncomfortable, but it also made her curious. What on earth could make her feel this way...?

She idly swung the bag of groceries back and forth as she went. Whatever it was that was drawing her was somewhere ahead.

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Max backed out of the phone booth and turned around, bumping into someone. He heard a feminine grunt and turned to face the other person.

"Sorry," he said when he saw the girl he had accidentally knocked down. She sat on the sidewalk, shaking her head as if she was dazed. A few items had fallen from the plastic bag she carried, so he knelt down beside her and picked then paused for a moment, trying to remember how to say 'sorry' in Japanese. He settled for a hesitant 'Gomen'. It had been a while since he had last been in Japan, and it seemed as though he had forgotten most of the language. He offered her a hand up and she muttered something he couldn't quite make out as she took his hand. He pulled her up and she staggered for a moment, holding her head, so he steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.

The girl looked up, their eyes met, and they both froze.

"Ah..."

It was her. Akira Okochi. Er...Okochi Akira, he corrected himself mentally. She had grown quite a bit from the time when the picture had been taken, but it was definitely her. He had expected to run into her in this town at some point, but not like this. The two of them simply stared at each other for a moment, and then...she smiled at him. Max felt his heart flutter for a second before he got himself back under control. She had such a cute smile...he grinned his ugly, crooked grin back at her and her smile widened a bit.

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**Author's Note**: Here's the first rewritten chapter after FFN's sudden deletion of the dividers I was using. I've added some things and taken out other things, and this chapter ended up a couple pages longer than it started out, and hopefully ended up quite a bit better as well. The rest will be coming soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Still Waters Run Deep**

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June 04

Max stood in his cheap motel room, contemplating his limited clothing options. Several days had passed since he had first made contact with his target, and he had carefully avoided meeting her again. There was no need to raise her suspicions, after all. That might make things difficult later. As for the boy teacher Negi Springfield, the two of them had kept up a daily schedule of phone calls and occasional meetings at the same cafe they had visited on the first day, as continued contact with friendlies was the suggested route in the manuals. And besides, the kid was smart, and had an oddly refreshing way of looking at the world. Now, as for the girl...

"Akira," he said. Akira, Akira. Though he knew little of Japanese names, it seemed like a pretty one. Akira...it had a nice sound to it. He crossed the short distance to the window and looked out on the street, only to spot a short blonde girl looking back up at him with a guarded expression. Their eyes met and he nodded absently at her. She glared and mouthed something that might have been 'baka', but he wasn't sure. It took him a moment to recall just what _that_ particular word meant, and his naturally grim look deepened when he recalled it. He looked back out the window, but the girl was gone.

How annoying.

He had bigger problems than some stupid ten year old, however. Even though he had sent in his report three days ago, he had yet to hear back from HQ. This...this was very troubling indeed. Normally they would've responded within the hour, though once or twice before on other missions it had taken a day or so. But never had it taken three days for them to respond, and his contact in Tokyo wasn't responding anymore; the number was now out of service. Maybe a call straight to HQ was needed?

Any way he looked at it, this was disturbing.

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Akira couldn't help but let her mind wander. She was again washing the dishes from dinner while Makie, Yuuna, and Ako sat around watching TV and chatting. Her mind had been wandering all day, she could barely even remember what she had learned in class today. 'I will need to pay extra attention tomorrow,' she thought before her mind went back to gray eyes and the shaggy black hair that threatened to cover them.

"Eeeeh, is it love-love?" Suddenly two arms slinked around her and Akira stiffened.

"Keh-!" She managed to cut her shriek short and did her best to glare at Yuuna, who smiled widely in return. "No! Why would you think that?" she all but shouted. She was feeling _something_, that was for sure. But was it love...? Akira didn't think so. Love was supposed to feel all light and airy, right? This was more of a visceral thing, and it bothered her.

Yuuna gestured toward the plate in Akira's hand. "You've been washing that for five minutes with such a wistful look on your face...so poetic, it's just like a drama!"

Akira put the plate down quickly; it made a loud sound when it hit the counter, getting Ako and Makie's attention.

"Huh? Something wrong?" Makie asked.

"Nope! Akira-chan's in love~" Yuuna said, grinning wide while Akira went red. Makie and Ako rushed over to join in the questioning.

"Eeeeh? Tell us, what is he like?"

"Is he cool? He'd have to be to get you, right?"

"How long have you two been going out?"

"Have you kissed yet?"

"Have you--"

Akira fled the room.

As she ran through the hallway, blushing furiously, Akira mentally kicked herself. 'What am I doing? They will just think they're right! But I can't go back and face them now...' It didn't make sense at all. Why _had_ she run? It was totally unlike her. She felt her stomach fluttering again...she had never felt this way before.

She quickly found herself outside the dorm and soon wandered over to the shopping district, where one of the first people she spotted was the big, weird foreigner from the other day; the same person that had been occupying her thoughts so thoroughly for the past three days. She quickly ducked behind a nearby sign and watched as he wandered around on a deserted side road, apparently looking for something on the ground. Oddly enough, he was walking in circles, dragging a stick behind him and occasionally scraping it around on the ground as if her was doing some sort of large scale calligraphy. She watched as he stepped into the circle he had made on the ground and froze, then looked straight at her. Akira's stomach jumped so hard and fast that she was almost jolted from her feet and probably would have fallen had she not grabbed onto the sign.

The man said something in English, then shook his head and spoke in Japanese. "Hello? Is someone there?"

Akira hesitantly stepped out, still not trusting her shaking legs as her heart pounded. Whatever else this man was, he was most definitely the cause of her current problems. She could tell he was surprised to see her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, not knowing what else to say.

"It's a kind of charm, I guess," he said, glancing down at the scratches in the dirt.

"Like for good luck on a test?" Akira asked.

"You could say that." He kept looking at her and their eyes met. Again, Akira suddenly felt short of breath, but also...excited? Possessive? What on earth was wrong with her?

"Oh..."

"Oh, I didn't introduce myself the other day. I am Max Linell, from America. I'm here on...vacation. Nice to meet you," he said in rough Japanese, holding out his hand. "Oh, and sorry about bumping into you the way I did."

"O...Okochi Akira. Nice to meet you," Akira said, not trusting her own voice as she extended her hand. He grabbed it and gave it a shake, and she felt something surge inside her and quickly took her hand back. "D-don't worry about it," she said as she quickly looked away and color rose in her face. 'His name is Max... What is wrong with me?' she screamed in her thoughts.

"Well, I have to go...nice to meet you, Akira. Okochi, I mean. Okochi-san. Goodbye," he said.

"Goodbye," Akira said absently. She watched Linell-san stroll away and wandered why her heart was beating so fast. This wasn't love...right? He was too old for her anyway, in his twenties at least. It wasn't as if she found him attractive either; to tell the truth, he was quite unattractive. Not hideous...but definitely not attractive. ...was this what they called 'chemistry'?

She shook those thoughts from her head and decided to head back to the dorm and face the others. She would have to eventually, after all. Plus, it was getting kind of late.

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Max stood in an alleyway, trembling. _Fight it. Push it back, force it down._ He repeated the words in his head until the fire finaly back off and he heaved a sigh of relief. It had taken everything he had to avoid burning her when he had shaken her hand earlier. If he had been better prepared, if he had had this vital piece of information...but it was too late for all that now. He had let his training grow lax; that would not do, not if he were to be in this place, around _her_, for any length of time. He slumped against a wall and tried to calm his racing heart and relax. Something fell further down the alley and he jerked erect, but it was just a cat, nosing around in a fallen garbage can, so he took a few deep breaths and leaned back against the wall.

Minutes passed, then an hour, and he found himself nodding off. It wouldn't be a good idea to fall asleep here; he hadn't seen a single homeless person since he had arrived. They probably had some program here to keep homeless people off the streets, so it would be a good idea to go back to his hotel...but not until he had finished the circle he had been working on before.

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A dark young woman stood on a nearby rooftop, watching as the American carefully finished the magic circle and activated it. It glowed with a brilliant reddish orange glow for a moment, then faded from sight. He hung around for a moment, probably to ensure it was working properly, then walked away.

Mana climbed down to investigate. There seemed to be no ill intent, but the headmaster and the others would need to be notified. The circle seemed to be of the sort that set up a passive barrier, just one of a number of similar circles no doubt. It was most likely the sort that notified the creator if something in particular crossed it. It put out no power, no signal of any type, and would have been extremely difficult to locate if she hadn't seen him finish it. In fact, the scratches in the dirt of the alleyway were already beginning to fade. In another five minutes, it would be gone without a trace. She carefully noted the location of the circle and continued her patrol.

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**Author's Notes**: Here's the second edited chapter. This one almost doubled in size from it's previous version, but is still quite short, at only three full pages. Sorry about that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Still Waters Run Deep**

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June 05

Kotarou slapped Negi on the back. "Hey, Negi. Can you believe I've actually transferred to the boys' school here? Haha!"

"Ooh!" Negi replied as he looked over his friend's new uniform. "Why did you transfer?"

"Cause you, Setsuna-nee-san and that very strong ane-san are here," Kotarou replied, savoring the high probability of future fights.

Asuna and Konoka continued to watch as Negi and Kotarou traded barbs until Chizuru interrupted and pressed the dog-boy's head to her chest, much to his not-so-honest dismay.

"Hey, Negi." Negi turned away from the Kotarou's struggles and looked at the new speaker.

"Ah, Max-san. How are you today?" Negi opened while everyone else looked confused at the stranger's interruption. Chizuru turned away, pulling Kotarou protectively behind her.

"I'm fine, just wandering through town on my way to find some breakfast. So," he said, making a broad gesture with his hand. "What's all this?"

The group took a look around, from the people in costumes to the large crowds to the circus girl flipping around off to the right.

"Oh, I never noticed..."

"Weird."

"Were they here the whole time...?"

Kamo sweatdropped from his place on Negi's shoulder. 'Y-you mean you guys didn't see them before?'

"Hey Negi, who's this guy?" Kotarou asked.

"Ah yes. This is an acquaintance from the American Div-- from America, Max Linell-san," Negi said as he gestured to Max. "Max-san, this is Kotarou-kun, and my students Kagurazaka Asuna-san, Konoe Konoka-san, and Naba Chizuru-san."

"Nice to meet you," Max said, nodding at them.

"You too," was the general response. There was an awkward pause for a moment as everyone tried to think of something to say until Kamo whispered something in Negi's ear. Max caught a glimpse of the ermine talking and gave it a strange look, but remained silent.

"Oh, I know!" Negi exclaimed. "Ka—My friend tells me that some of my students are making a cafe! We should go visit them. You should come too, Max-san."

"...are you sure that's all right?" Max asked, perfectly justified in his hesitation to enter an all girls' school on the invitation of a ten year old.

"It's fine, don't worry! Right everyone?" Negi asked as he beamed at his students.

"Er...yeah," Asuna said. Konoka and Chizuru just smiled while Kotarou sized up the new intruder to their group. 'I could take him,' he said to himself with a nod as the group swept up Max in its enthusiasm.

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As the group made their way to the building, they were unknowingly shadowed by another student, Murakami Natsumi. 'There he is again! And he's talking with Negi? Maybe he's threatening him! No, surely not...? I'd better follow them to make sure,' she thought to herself as she eyed Max suspiciously.

"He is strange."

Natsumi jumped and quickly turned around, only to see student number 31, Zazie Rainyday, standing behind her in some sort of circus uniform.

"Zazie-san?" Zazie had never shown any interest in Natsumi before, and she didn't know how to react. Zazie was just _looking_ at her. With her _eyes_. Natsumi thought the standard sound effect they used in manga for someone staring intently at something would fit perfectly here.

"Yeah...he's really weird," Natsumi said as she turned back to look at Negi's group again. Unfortunately, they were already gone. "Ah...!" She turned back to Zazie, but the strange girl had disappeared as well. "Where did everyone goooo?"

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"Welcome to 3-A's Maid Cafe!"

"Ah..."

"..."

"What? What's going on?" Negi asked as Ayaka, Kazumi, and the cheerleader trio posed in maid outfits and began fawning over him while the others look on in varying states of shock, confusion, and delight.

"Hey, Negi. Are you sure this is okay? I mean, you do know what a maid cafe is, right?" Max whispered to Negi, who still looked clueless.

"What do you mean? It's a cafe, right? It is a good thing that my students are showing such energy!" Negi said with enthusiasm.

Max was quickly pulled aside by two strange girls while Negi rambled on about responsibility and the future of Japan's youth. Max looked down at the two girls as they scowled up at him. One had two curious 'hair antennae', and the other had a ponytail on the side of her head, something that looked quite odd in Max's opinion. "Can I help you?"

"I don't know who you are, but you can't interfere with this! This is the result of literally _hours_ of planning, and-"

"Ok, ok. I understand. Go ahead. Whatever," Max said, extracting himself from these strange girls. And to think, he had heard the Japanese were supposed to be reserved. When he turned back to rejoin the group, he saw that Negi had been plied with wine, and there had also been a costume change, along with the addition of several other girls. He glanced over the group and froze when he saw Akira. Unbidden, his eyes met Akira's, then dipped down. '_holy…_' His eyes were glued there. '…_what the hell…_' He had never seen anything like this in America.

Akira, for her part, looked down at the costume she wore, her face reddening as tears welled in her eyes. There she stood, in front of everyone, in front of _him_, in a bunny girl outfit.

"Eh…?" She looked around quickly and saw Haruna's freaky grin.

"EEHHHH?" She looked around wildly, searching for something that could get her out of this until her eyes locked on Max's, who had finally torn his gaze away and looked as embarrassed as she felt. "You…you…" She reared back and… "YOU IDIOT!" …punched him hard enough to send him flying a good twenty yards. And then she fled.

"Wow…"

"Okochi-san, wait! Where are you—" Negi started, only to be yanked back before he could take two steps.

"Wait Negi-sensei!" Haruna said, grabbing his arm to hold him back. "Huhuhu, this is a matter of the heart. The heart of a woman! I detect the Smell of Love!"

Meanwhile, Fuuka and Fumika had wandered up and were kneeling beside the unmoving Max, poking him from each side with small sticks. "Is he dead?"

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Akira hid inside the small broom closet, beet red and shaking with embarrassment. She called herself an idiot for the tenth time for leaving her normal clothing behind when she ran, and sobbed as quietly as possible until she heard footsteps approaching. She quieted until they had passed, then cursed her fate. She would have to wait until class started and the halls cleared before she could get her clothes back.

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**Author's Notes**: Poor Akira-chan, eh? And here's the intro of Kotarou. I know the first few chapters are pretty short, but they get longer as the story goes on.


	4. Chapter 4

**Still Waters Run Deep**: In the House of the Rising Sun

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Max awoke to find himself in a strange room, lying on a white bed. It seemed to be some sort of hospital ward, maybe? Or perhaps a very nice nurse's office in a school. When he sat up and saw the pale girl dozing lightly in a chair at the foot of his bed, he decided it was the latter.

"Hey. Girl."

She moved a bit, then sat up anr rubbed her eyes sleepily. It was quite cute, in Max's opinion.

"Y-yes?" she asked hesitantly.

"Hey, girl. Where is this?" he asked, gesturing around the room.

She suddenly sat up straighter as she began to speak. "My name is Izumi Ako, and this is the nurse's station in Mahora Girl's Academy," she said as she stood up and smoothed her skirt. "I'll get Shizuna-sensei, so wait right there, okay?" she said as she left the room.

Max sat up and swung his feet over the edge of the bed and found his boots on the floor beside it. He brought his hand up and rubbed his aching jaw, wincing as he recalled Akira's punch. A normal girl would have broken her hand, trying to pull something like that. But if his suspicions were correct... He cut off that thought as the girl stepped into the curtained-off section followed by a stunningly beautiful woman. He caught himself staring and turned away.

"So, you must be Shizuna-sensei," he said to the window.

"That is my name. Now, would you mind telling me what you were doing in an all girls' school this morning?" she said in a no-nonsense tone.

Max glanced over at Ako, who shrunk away, then back to Shizuna, who understood immediately.

"Why don't you take a break, Izumi-san. I also have some documents I would like you to deliver to the headmaster's office," Shizuna said not unkindly.

"Yes, Shizuna-sensei," Ako said as she took the file folder Shizuna held out. Shizuna waited until Ako was out of the room before getting to the heart of the matter. She took out Max's wallet, which had been confiscated earlier while he was unconscious, and toyed around with it for a moment before removing the minor glamour that hid his mage's license. Max just stared at her, open mouthed.

"Is everyone at this school a mage?"

"Not _everyone_, as I am sure you know," she said. She paused a moment as she pulled out his license and looked it over. "Max Linell-san, from the tertiary HQ of the American Division's research division in South Dakota," she said in passable English. "Might I ask what purpose you have here at my school?"

"Is it okay to say that out loud?" Max asked.

Shizuna crossed her arms and nodded.

"Okay then. My mission is classified." He decided to relent a bit at the look she gave him. He had never particularly cared for the small punishments meted out for minor transgressions since he hadn't heard back from HQ yet either...he was on his own now, without contact from his superiors for several days, and was thus granted authority to do whatever he deemed necessary to survive until contact could be reestablished. He sighed.

"I was sent here to observe one of your students.:

"Which one?" Shizuna asked, tapping her foot impatiently as he bent down to tie his bootlaces.

He finished and stood up off the bed. "Okochi Akira."

Shizuna nodded. Akira was being observed by quite a few people from quite a few organizations; most of whom were currently placed as staff members. "Might I ask why?"

"...I am afraid that that is something I really can't tell you. But it was through agreement with the master of the mage association that governs this area that we send an agent to perform in the role of observation."

"Fair enough," Shizuna replied. "Now," she said, tossing him his wallet, which he deftly plucked from the air. "Why are you transcribing magic circles around the city?"

Max raised an eyebrow. "They're just scanning circles. I'm a bit paranoid sometimes, and there is obviously something weird going on here, especially with that big tree," he said, pointing out the window to where the World Tree was plainly visible. He looked back to see her disbelieving gaze and shrugged. "It's true." Were these people really unaware of what a scanning circle looked like? Or was it just this Shizuna woman?

"In any case, you must meet with Headmaster Konoe now. Hurry, he is not the sort of man you want to keep waiting," she said with an annoyed twitch of her eye and a slight downturn of her lips. Max realized she had already formed a solid first opinion of him as the type of man who would lecherously sneak into an all girls' middle school. He had a feeling that sort of first impression was hard to get rid of.

11111111

Roughly ten minutes later, Max found himself standing beside Shizuna in front of a sturdy set of wooden doors.

"The headmaster's office is through here," Shizuna said, irritation creeping through in her tone.

Max was a bit annoyed. A woman as beautiful as Shizuna was should make an effort to smile once in a while; it would probably be an amazing site to see. Of course, she'd probably hit him if he said said so, so he remained silent. He knew the type after all; Jennifer acted like that sometimes.

"Come in," said a voice on the other side of the door.

Max gave a curt nod to Shizuna and pushed one of the doors open and entered the room.

"Ah, welcome Max-kun. I have been expecting you," the old man seated behind the desk at the far end of the cavernous room said.

Max approached the desk and looked across at the old man. 'His head...it's like some weird gourd or something! Oh wow...'

"Sit down, Max-kun." Max sat down. "So..." the old man said with a sly look. "What do you think of Shizuna-sensei, hmm?"

"_Headmaster_!" a furious voice shouted as a clipboard sailed through the open door, across the room, and smacked the old man in the head.

"Oh ho ho, she is a feisty one, Shizuna-sensei," he said when he was against seated. "So, Max-kun. About your employment here--"

"...what?" Max asked.

"...you will be quite a fine Physical Education teacher, I am sure," Konoemon continued as if he hadn't heard Max's interruption. "Here are your papers, as well as a map of the campus. And this is your daily schedule. I am sure you will get along fine with the students. Now, if you will excuse me..."

Max sat there stunned for a moment. 'What the hell?' he thought. "What's going on here?" he finally said.

The headmaster steepled his hands and gave Max a measuring look over them. "You have been hired as a Physical Education teacher," he replied with an old man's devious smile. "You have already been assigned a room in the teacher's dorm, and your things have already been delivered."

"You took my stuff from my hotel room?" Max asked incredulously.

"Your delayed luggage has also been delivered. Now I am surprised at you, Max-kun," the old man said. "You should know better than to try to fly to Japan with dangerous weapons in your luggage," he said disapprovingly.

Max was taken aback yet again, thrown off balance by the old man's sheer underhandedness.

"How on earth did you know about--"

"Give this note to Shizuna-sensei on your way out. Now, off you go; I have work to do," the old man said as if he hadn't even heard him. "Off you go."

Max was, to say the least, stunned. Few people had the nerve to ransack the hotel room of a man like him. Not to mention force him into a job or brush off his questions so easily. Knowing there was nothing else he could do at this point, Max stumbled out of the headmaster's office and out into the hallway, where he found Shizuna again.

"...he says I'm a teacher now...," Max said, dazed. His expression was eerily similar to that of a deer looking into the headlights of an oncoming eighteen wheeler. "I can't teach! I don't even know how! I know he said I was a P.E. teacher, but still, this is insane!"

Shizuna read the note he handed her and sighed. "While I agree with your misgivings," she interrupted, making a face like she was chewing nails, "The headmaster knows what he is doing, I am sure. Now I will escort you to your room at the teachers' dorm; follow me."

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The school day had finally ended, and Max was wandering around the school grounds in a daze. The headmaster had provided suitable clothing for a P.E. teacher, but Max found the sweatpants and shirt to be uncomfortable and itchy. He was going to have to go for something lighter, maybe a T-shirt and a pair of loose jeans? Or if not that, then at least a pair of those striped pants that he seemed to vaguely remember seeing coaches and players wear on TV.

"So, you would be Max-san, correct?"

Max looked up at the speaker and saw a relaxed looking man with graying hair, quite a few years older than Max, standing beside a rather short girl with a sideways ponytail and a sword case.

'Another sideways ponytail? Is that a popular style over here?' Max wondered. "Hello, I'm Max Linell. And you are...?"

"Takahata Takamichi, nice to meet you," he said, shaking Max's hand. "And this is one of Negi's students, Sakurazaki Setsuna-kun."

Max looked down at her and saw her measuring gaze. He grinned. Now _here_ was someone he could relate to, even if she was just a kid.

"Nice to meet you," he said, offering his hand for another handshake. "I know your teacher, we met each other a few days ago...he's a good kid." She hesitantly reached out as if unfamiliar with the gesture, so he grabbed her hand and gave it a shake.

"So," Max said, turning back to Takahata. "What can I do for you?"

Takahata looked down at Setsuna. "Setsuna-kun, I am trusting the barrier to you." Then he threw an almost haphazard punch at Max, who ducked so fast he almost fell down.

"What the--" he jerked his head back to avoid another fist, then backed up warily as Takahata lit up a cigarette and grinned.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Max demanded.

"You're not that weak, are you?" Takahata replied. And then suddenly the older man was _right there_ and Max barely managed to raise his arm in time to knock the other man's punch out of line. He threw a sloppy right that Takahata easily avoided, then attempted to rush the other man, who slipped aside and tripped Max, who managed to grab nTakahata's arm while flailing for balance. He threw himself to the ground with a quick turn, and Takahata hit the pavement with a grunt. Max quickly put the other man into a sloppy armbar while Takahata squirmed around and finally worked himself loose by grabbing Max's ear.

Both men got to their feet and watched each other.

"Oho, a grappler," Takahata said as his grin widened and he dropped into an unfamiliar stance.

"I find I tend to hurt people when I hit them: Max said, boasting emptily as he assumed what he hoped appeared to be a reasonable stance. It just wouldn't do to play down his abilities though, so the best thing would be to play them up.

"That's the point," Takahata said, grinning with amusement.

Max cursed himself for a fool; the man had seen right through him.

"Okay, you got me. Can we not do this anymore?"

Takahata dropped out of his stance and took one last puff on his cigarette, which he had not lost during the fight.

"You should speak with Ku Fei about learning Kenpo. It would be a good idea, I think. You seem to have the ability, but not the training. You should do well," he added as he turned away. "Oh, and Setsuna will accompany you back to your dorm. You two have patrol duty tonight."

"Patrol duty?" Max asked as he swiped his hair out of his eyes.

"It's something those of us who aren't normal have to put up with," Takahata said. "Good night."

Max watched him go, then looked down at Setsuna, who looked back up at him silently. 'Man...she is _short_.'

"So, what does patrol duty usually involve?" he asked as he decided to play along for awhile.

"Fighting demons or evil spirits that come through the barrier, usually. Though there are sometimes bigger problems," she said, her voice amusingly serious.

"I see...I'd better get my sword then, huh?"

"Yes."

"..."

"..."

They looked at each other quietly for a moment.

Max sighed. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Who is this mysterious 'Jennifer' Max compared with Shizuna before meeting old Konoe? And has anyone ever realized just how short most of 3-A actually is by American standards? Max is almost a foot and a half taller than most of them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Still Waters Run Deep**: Smells like Teen Spirit

* * *

June 7, the dorm room of Negi, Asuna, and Konoka

"Mmf"

"...?" Asuna blinked and looked around blearily, not really seeing anything.

"Th-thi-thi-thi-this is...?" a familiar sounding voice exclaimed.

"Hmn?" Asuna mumbled. It seemed a bit cold. And warm. At the same time? She realized something was wrong and swam up out of her sleep to see what it was. She looked around sleepily and finally spotted Setsuna and Konoka standing in the middle of the room, staring at her wide eyed and open mouthed. Setsuna in particular looked as if she might fall over from an errant gust of wind.

"Mmm..." Negi said.

Asuna froze, then slowly looked down. Negi was cuddled up next to her, his head buried in her chest, with the top half of her night shirt undone.

"Ehh? EEEEHHH?"

"Ohh, so you two had THAT sort of relationship already...Way to go, aniki!" Kamo said, making sure to scurry far out of Asuna's reach.

"Don't worry Asuna! I won't tell anyone!" Konoka gushed as she took Asuna's hand in her own.

"Asuna and Negi-sensei were...were..." Setsuna stuttered, her mind blown at how close the two had become. Negi had been hugging Asuna, and Asuna had been hugging Negi, and Negi's face had been stuffed between...

"GET UP ALREADY NEGI YOU IDIOT!" Asuna wailed.

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Max heard the noise from the path that went along the side of the dorm and looked up at the window.

"Heh, sounds like they're having fun." He had done some research earlier about what was expected of P.E. teachers in Japan, and felt that he now had a fairly good idea of what to do. Dressed in his newly obtained workout clothes, he stalked the pathways of the school and surrounding areas, The Symbol of P.E. Teacher Authority, a.k.a. a wooden sword, in hand. He got many strange looks, but he had always gotten them anyway so it made little difference. Judging by all the other freaks and weirdos that seemed to live here, he should be just another weird foreigner before too long. Speaking of weirdos, he was quite sure he had even seen a robot wandering around earlier. If something like that could go unnoticed, he would be just fine.

Not to mention the fact that stalking around like some typical yakuza with a wooden sword was freaking _fun_. He smirked at the thought.

"Now," he said aloud as his stomach rumbled. "Where is that great smell coming from?" He followed his nose and a few students to a strange looking streetcar that seemed to double as a small restaurant. Weird. He looked around at the other people to see how they went about getting food, then did as they did. He soon got a seat and ended up with some sort of...soup, he supposed. Then again, so much of Japanese food seemed to amount to fancy ways of making chicken noodle soup that he had no idea what its proper name was. In addition to the bowl of something that may or may not have been soup, he had a big, round bun of some sort. Totally unfamiliar with such things, he fumbled with his chopsticks for a moment before working out how to pick something up with them, then proceeded to drop several pieces of unrecognizable food on the table, the ground, and himself before finally getting one to his mouth. The taste was foreign, but good. He looked back at the chopsticks for a moment, then sighed.

"Ah, Negi-sensei," someone said, followed by a general upshift of the small crowd's volume.

"Negi-kun!"

"Wow, this is Chao's stall?" Negi asked.

Max looked up from trying to spear a floating piece of...something...and spotted Negi and some of his students.

"Hey, Negi! Come here for a moment," he called out.

"Max-san! Good morning!" Negi said as he made his way over.

"Good morning. Now tell me, how do I use these?" Max asked, holding up a pair of chopsticks.

While Negi showed Max the correct use of chopsticks, Asuna, Konoka, and Setsuna stood back for a moment. When it seemed Negi would stay with Max, they settled in as well.

"So what's with that getup?" Asuna asked when she was comfortably seated.

Max looked up from his bowl. "Hmm? Oh, I'm a P.E. teacher now, so I thought I'd best look the part."

'Idiot,' Asuna thought. "Wait, you're a P.E. teacher? Since when?"

Max swallowed a mouthful of food before he answered. "Konoemon, I think that was his name, he made me a teacher. Said I was best suited for this, though I don't know why," Max said between bites. He felt really good this morning, but these chopsticks just weren't going to cut it. He thought wistfully of the forks and spoons he had used back home. Hell, he would settle for a good pocketknife right about now. His thoughts were interrupted as a somewhat chubby girl approached and gave Negi a bowl of something she called 'Stamina Soup', or something like that. He tried not to listen as he ate, but couldn't help but overhear the girl mention something about Negi training under Ku Fei and almost choked. Takahata had told him to train under Ku Fei...maybe Negi could introduce them...?

He waited for the nice girl to leave before broaching the subject to Negi. "Hey, do you think you could introduce me to Ku Fei?"

Negi looked up in surprise. "Sure, but why?"

"Takahata told me I should train under Ku Feu," he replied, unaware that he had Asuna's full attention, now that he had mentioned Takahata-sensei. "He didn't say who Ku Fei was or where he could found, though."

Negi smiled. "Sure! Ku Fei is right over there," he said, pointing with his chopsticks. Max turned to look, but didn't see anyone that looked particularly threatening or even capable of fighting very well...just a couple of young punks eating at a table and some weird waitress girl that looked as though she had come from Molmol, who was currently delivering food to them.

"...where...?"

"Ah, it's time to go; we'd better go before we're late for class!" Konoka said suddenly.

"You're right!" Asuna answered when she looked at a clock.

"Come on, Max-sensei! You'll be late too!"

"Er...all right?" Max said as he stuffed one last piece of food in his mouth.

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The school day was a complete mess for Max. His first class was a bunch of wild little kids who wouldn't do anything he said. The second class was a bunch of high school girls who also wouldn't do anything he said, and he was quite sure he heard them snickering behind his back. The third class, however, involved some students he knew quite well.

It was a disaster.

First, as a warm up, he told them to do jumping jacks. When he finally lifted his jaw off the ground and realized what he was looking at (what the hell, were these girls _really_ only fourteen or fifteen?) he immediately got them to stop and told them to run some laps, which they did...though several of the girls kept giving him knowing looks as they mouthed thins like 'pervert', 'old man', and the like. He could just imagine old Konoemon giving him a thumbs up. And then he realized that he was looking up at one of the windows in Konoemon's office, and the old man actually _was_ giving him a thumbs up. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn there were actually _tears_ in the old man's eyes.

It was humiliating. And when class was finally over and everyone had changed out of their ridiculous gym shorts and back into their uniforms, the camera girl, Kazumi, he thought her name was, approached and offered to make a deal on some pictures that may or may not have been accidentally taken without a certain long-haired swimmer-girl's permission...apparently she had caught him watching Akira and mistaken it for something it was most definitely _not._ When he had turned her down, she had given him a knowing look and an email address, which he had pocketed without thinking about it. _That_ had made the girl give him a lecherous grin, and he hadn't figured out why until he realized she must have thought he was going to surreptitiously email her later; but she was long gone and it was far too late to do anything to fix that.

"Ugh, what a disaster," he said to himself as he slumped down against a wall and absentmindedly drew circles in the dirt with his finger.

When the next class showed up, he just told them to run some laps and left it at that.

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"Sensei, class is over, can we go...?"

Max looked blankly up at the girl, who took a half step back with a slightly freaked out expression on her face.

"Wha...? Sure. Fine. Go. Leave me with my horrible sense of alienation and self loathing. Teenage girls are all evil. All of them." He continued muttering long after the last class had left.

44444444

Akira found him there some time later on her way to the swimming club after school, and paused as waves of uncertainty washed over her. That thing with the bunny girl costume...it hadn't really been his fault, after all...maybe he deserved an apology? And she certainly hadn't meant to hit him so hard either; that had just just been a reflex. She steeled her nerves and approached carefully as her faced heated up and she again felt uncharacteristically shy.

"M-Max-sensei?" she said. He looked wearily up at her.

"Huh?" he asked intelligently.

They looked at each other for a moment, and a strong gust of wind blew by. Max heard a click and looked to the right, only to see Kazumi with a camera and a huge grin. When he looked back up at Akira, his eyes widened as the wind gusted and her skirt fluttered.

"B...blue and white..."

After a moment's pause, Akira's eyes widened as well as she realized what he meant, and her fist clenched.

Max shot to his feet and turned away. 'That perverted old man, I'll kill him! Making the uniform skirts so short...' he thought.

"Heeeh, imagine the headlines tomorrow, 'New P.E. teacher is a confirmed pervert! Love-love relationship between teacher and student?' I'll sell thousands of copies!" Kazumi said gleefuly.

"Noooooooooo!"

* * *

**Author's Notes**: And again, poor Akira-chan. Darn you, Pineapple Head! Anyway, these first chapters mainly serve to introduce the OC and the reactions various characters have to him. Things are going to pick up soon, and major deviations from the manga will occur.


	6. Chapter 6

**Still Waters Run Deep**: There's a Lady Who's Sure

* * *

The next several days went by in a blur for Max. The campus was in a state of constant activity in preparation for the school festival, and he'd been patrolling nightly with Setsuna and once with Mana, the dark girl he had seen around a few times (not to mention one of those who looked as though she should be graduating high school this year, or maybe even last year). He had finally learned who Ku Fei was, and had been quite shocked. The little Molmol-looking girl from China? Weird. He recalled their meeting on Sunday as he moved along the sidewalk.

11111111

"Come on, Max-san, Ku-sensei is over here," Negi said excitedly, waving Max on.

"You don't have to add the –san, you know, Negi?" Max said as he stopped to catch his breath. The kid had led him halfway across the enormous campus at a run. Max was in good shape, but not _that_ good; he didn't think anyone _could _be that good. The boy teacher only seemed to recall this sporadically, however, stopping to let Max catch up every hundred feet or so and then darting ahead as per usual. By the time they reached the world tree plaza, Max was exhausted and aggravated, and it showed on his face in a horribly foreboding manner as he trudged up the last short set of stairs. When he saw Negi standing beside 'Ku-sensei,' he couldn't help but lift his hand up to massage his temples in an attempt to eradicate the migraine he already felt approaching.

"Max-san, this is Ku-sensei! Ku-sensei, this is Max-san, he is a P.E. Teacher."

"She knows who I am, Negi," Max said, exasperated. "She's the girl in one of my P.E. classes that reminds me of a tiger cub," he finished.

"I'm not a tiger cub!" the Chinese girl replied indignantly in surprisingly good Japanese. Max had sort of expected her to speak in mangled english or something.

"Eh...? But I thought—" Negi said.

"It's okay, Negi," Max said as he walked past the boy and stopped about ten feet away from Ku Fei. "So, Takahata and Negi both have told me I should train under you," he said as he gave the girl standing before him a measuring look. "What do you say?"

She narrowed her eyes and put a hand to her chin in a thoughtful manner. "You are big, maybe too big." She circled him slowly, finally coming to a stop before him. "You move. Throw punch, kick," she ordered. "Take off the jacket too, it not cold here," she added as she pulled on his light coat, which he shrugged off and passed to Negi.

"Good luck, Max-san!" Negi said excitedly as he watched Max and Ku Fei move to the middle of the plaza, where there was plenty of space.

Ku Fei bowed, and Max returned it awkwardly. "Any time," Ku Fei said as she assumed an odd stance Max had never come across before.

His face took on a thoughtful expression in place of its usual grim look as he dropped to his usual loose fighting stance and searched for weak spots. Finding none, a frown crept across his face. "You're not making this easy for me, are you?" he asked.

The tiger cub girl grinned. "Easy is no good. It's time to fight!" she exclaimed as she spun a kick at him, which he narrowly dodged by jerking his head back.

"You've got good reach," he said appraisingly, wondering how the girl had managed to aim a kick at his forehead when she was so short.

"Huhuhu," the girl laughed.

They traded blows, punching kicking and dodging, until finally Ku Fei stepped back and bowed again.

"Can you teach him, Ku-sensei?" Negi asked, eyes shining hopefully as he rapidly approached the two.

"No," the girl replied, smiling. She turned to Max, who looked at her oddly. "Don't worry, you are a good fighter. You're just no good for Chinese Kenpo," she explained. "Too big, too much force...you should only do Chinese Kenpo if you want knee injuries and never walk again."

Max grimaced at that. "Figures," he said after a moment. He had heard many stories of western people with knee injuries obtained through practicing eastern martial arts. Something about the western practitioners being physically larger than the people who had designed the fighting style in the first place.

"Don't worry about it Negi," he said as he ruffled the kid's hair. 'Poor kid looks like he's going to cry,' he thought as he took in Negi's crestfallen face. He turned back to the yellow haired girl. "Hey, you aren't from Molmol, are you?"

"Molmol?" Ku Fei asked wonderingly. "Never heard of Molmol. Why?"

"Just a hunch," Max said. "I'd like to have a serious match some time. It'd probably be fun," he added.

"Yes, I agree," the girl said as her ever-present smile widened. "Back to training…" she said as she resumed what she had been doing before the interruption.

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The incident had been annoying, since Max had never liked being told he couldn't do something; it wasn't a big deal, however, as there were other avenues of improving his skills than training with Ku Fei. He practiced his sword skills with Setsuna regularly, sometimes with live steel, more often with wooden swords or dull blades.

His first spar with Setsuna had been a shock to the girl as his unorthodox movements had resulted in a win for Max, though in the subsequent spars she had begun to figure out how to outmaneuver him. For his part, Max thought that this was quite strange…back home, the guys he always sparred with tended to beat him easily with the style taught by the instructors at HQ. He supposed it was more of a rock-paper-scissors sort of thing than any sort of genius ability on his part, though. His style was likely effective against Setsuna's, but the style of the guys at HQ was effective against his style. Well, either that or the fact that while Setsuna's technique was superb, she was still very young and had likely never come across someone who fought the way Max did. And she was adapting well…she had come within a sliver of beating him the night before. He predicted that before the week was out, she would have her first win, and from there he would be the laughing stock of the local swordfighting world again. He might break out a different type of sword and hold her off for a few more days, but…in the end it would be the same. The girl was _good_. Oddly enough, Konoka and Asuna had taken to watching their sparring, and Asuna actually took notes from time to time. He made a mental note to ask the redhead about that at some point.

"Ah, finally found it," Max said as he entered the small convenience store he had been searching for. There was an odd, cold feeling in the air just outside, but he shook it off as unimportant.

When he exited the store with his purchases, he again felt a chill but ignored it when he saw Negi's group approaching. "Hey, Negi, Setsuna. Guys. What are you all doing out so late?" he asked, trying to appear civil. He pretended not to notice the presence of that evil girl, Kazumi, who had blackmailed him and Akira. It hadn't been cheap to keep that bogus teacher-student-relationship story out of the paper…And why had he had to pay in food tickets anyway, wouldn't cash have been better?

He was amused to see Setsuna give him a short bow, while Konoka and Negi waved and Asuna did a passable imitation of the standard 'reverse nod' that seemed to be popular in the US...she had probably seen it on TV and thought it was the proper way to greet him; it was quite amusing as well. He ignored Kazumi's wink, and instead looked at the little white ermine perched on the back of Negi's head, which casually raised a paw as if in greeting. Must be Negi's familiar, then. 'What a truly evil girl,' he thought again as he glanced back at Kazumi. Well, Negi seemed to be friendly with her, so she couldn't be all that bad.

"How is Akira-chan?" Kazumi asked, grinning wickedly.

Scratch that, she was _evil_.

"I don't know, how is she?" he replied testily, glaring back while she grinned. She seemed to be immune to his death glare.

"Oh, I don't know. I just thought you would know, since you two are so close and all."

Truly and unutterably EVIL. He must not let this little girl bait him.

"So, Negi. What brings you guys out here?" Max said, changing the subject rather than endure pointless teasing.

"Oh, Max-san! We are on our way back from training. We would have invited you, but they said you were busy with the judo team."

Max nodded. For some reason, he had been ordered to assist the judo team after school today. The normal instructor had not been pleased, and Max had been assigned the unenviable task of being the guy that everyone practiced their throws on. He was a very tall man, so he had a long way to fall when the team members threw him around; he was slowly learning how to take the falls less painfully, however, which was always a good thing, and something he had always wanted to learn if he could find the time. Knowing how to take a fall could mean the difference between life and death, after all. It might come in handy when he returned to HQ after this mission ended.

Setsuna was speaking now. "Max-sensei, I have a question about that—"

"GOOD EVENING SENSEI!" someone shouted nearby; Max didn't recognize the voice.

"—that…technique you used…" Setsuna trailed off and looked around oddly for a moment, only to see Max doing the same.

"Did you hear…?"

Everyone else looked clueless.

"Is something wrong?" Asuna asked.

"…must've been my imagination," Max replied, hesitantly. But he knew Setsuna had felt something too. A chill passed over him, so he pulled his light coat tighter. "It's pretty chilly here, isn't it? Especially for June… Anyway, I'll go back now, you guys should do the same. See ya later, Negi. Setsuna. Everyone." He waved and headed back on the path to the room provided by the school in the teachers' dorm, thoughts clicking into place as he considered what had just happened.

Negi's group watched him go.

Asuna turned to Kazumi. "What was that about Akira?"

Kazumi laughed and waved it off. "Don't worry about it. Negi-sensei! Can we stay in the classroom late to prepare for the festival?"

"That's fine, but don't be too late ok? Make sure to return by nine o'clock," Negi said.

"Yes, sensei."

33333333

When Max arrived at the teachers' dorm and entered his room, he shrugged off the coat and flopped down on the uncomfortably small bed. "Was that a ghost, I wonder?" He thought for a moment. Surely not. He had heard about ghosts, but had never actually seen one or met anyone who had seen one. And he had never heard of one speaking without the help of a medium of some sort. But this was Japan, and the entire eastern half of Asia seemed to run on a different system from Europe and America, which was pretty weird in and of itself, when one got to thinking about it. Why would the rules be different on the other side of the world, anyway? The supernatural would be a lot easier to deal with if it all followed the same set of rules. Well, some things seemed to be universal. Salt, for example. And silver was almost always said to have an effect. Max rolled onto his side and looked at the wall, where he had drawn a final circle that controlled all of those he had set up over the past week or so. He had made one before back at the hotel he had been staying in, but had had to make a new one after his forced move to the dorm.

"I really should see about removing the first one," he said aloud to the empty room as he stared at the wall. It should be ok for a while, he made a practice of making his magic circles invisible unless one knew the command word to reveal it. Of course, his old friends in HQ all knew the command word and could use the circle if necessary; it was just one of many secrets they shared.

He muttered a command word and the circle lit up with small dots. These were all the beings present within the perimeter created by his circles. Most were clustered in a few places, though there were quite a few still out on the streets and pathways that crisscrossed the campus.

He spoke another command word and the dots representing the normal people or those with negligible power disappeared. There were still a large number of dots present, however. He took out the spellbook he had brought with him and turned to the section on scanning circles, and after a few moments found what he was looking for. He muttered a short spell followed by a command word, and suddenly all but three dots disappeared. The ones that were left were quite odd. They flickered constantly, and moved about slowly. If he had done this correctly, those dots represented active ghosts or ghost-like entities. It wasn't perfect since it couldn't detect inactive ghosts, but it didn't really matter, he was just trying to satisfy his curiosity. He pulled out the map of Mahora that he had had specially made before he left HQ and placed it over the circle. Sure enough, one of the dots was on the road near that convenience store. Two others were out in the woods in a place he had never been, however. That was quite odd…he would need to ask Setsuna about it, or check it out himself when he got the time.

Anyway, it was getting late so he shut down the circle and tried to get some sleep.

44444444

Two hours later, he was awakened from a light sleep by a phone call from HQ.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: And the Plot thickens! Or something like that, if you can call one line at the end of a chapter thickening. You know, I didn't even realize just how short these chapters are until I got into the editing process.


	7. Chapter 7

**Still Waters Run Deep**: Said the Joker to the Thief

* * *

June 14th

The big entrance hallway of the school was crowded when Max finally entered, female students stood around in groups gossiping about all manner of things. A stray comment caught his attention, so he drifted over near a small group of three girls and listened in for a moment.

"So you see, Sayo-chan was actually a nice ghost!"

"That's good."

"Yeah, isn't it?"

"A ghost?" he interjected, making two of the girls jump in surprise.

"Y-yes!" the bravest one said. She was probably 5'2 at best, and had to crane her head up to look at his face. "Here, take this, the story's in the paper," she said quickly.

Max thanked the girl and looked absent-mindedly at the several-days-old newspaper that the student had thrust into his hands and glanced over the story about the ghost they had been talking about. He hadn't thought about it since he received that phone call the other night…to be honest he hadn't thought about much at all except his new orders. The peaceful days were quickly coming to an end…he could only hope for the order to be rescinded.

He again moved through the crowd, which parted before him as he grimaced in thought. After a few seconds, he realized he had gathered a tail of students who wanted to get through the crowded entrance, but didn't wish to be rude in doing so. It was something he was used to, but it still amused him to see something so familiar so far from home; it seemed the students were finally getting used to him. It was kind of nice in a way, to have strangers not look as if they wanted to run screaming at his approach. His slowly lightening spirits plummeted again as he recalled his new circumstances.

What was going on at HQ?

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"So Akira, is it true?" Makie asked from her spot leaning on Akira's desk.

"Hmm? Is what true?" Akira asked, looking up as she checked over her homework.

"Are you and Max-sensei dating?"

"What?" Akira asked, shocked. Had Kazumi betrayed them after all? No, that didn't sound right. They weren't dating! And she _didn't _ have a crush on him. She _didn't_!

"Th-th-that's insane! Hahaha! I don't know where anyone would get such a ridiculous idea!" she answered, far too loudly. The sheer oddness of Akira speaking loudly drew quite a few looks from the other students and caught the interest of Misa and Yuuna, who quickly approached.

"What's insane?"

"That she's dating Max-sensei," Makie helpfully supplied, drawing another shocked look from Akira.

"You're dating that scary Max-sensei? How long have you two been going out? Tell me tell me!" Misa demanded as she leaned on the front of Akira's desk.

"Yeah, I'm pretty much your best friend and I didn't even know! How could you betray me like that?" Yuuna wanted to know as she leaned on the left side of Akira's desk, opposite Makie.

By now half the class had gathered and there was no escape.

"It's not truuuuue!"

"I'm afraid she is telling the truth, everyone," Kazumi broke in after what she deemed a suitable amount of time. "I've done the research, and there is nothing going on between Akira-chan and the scary Max-sensei," she said with a sad shake of the head, as if regretting the loss of a great story.

"Eeehhh? But she said—"

"There's nothing there, the evidence was conclusive."

"Ooooh, where's the fun in that?" Yuuna whined while Makie nodded in agreement.

When the crowd had dispersed, Akira thanked Kazumi profusely. She had been through an emotional rollercoaster for the past week, and it was really starting to wear on her mental state…freaking out like that had been completely out of character for her.

"You shouldn't thank me yet, Akira-chan. You owe me for this, hehe~!" Kazumi said with a grin as she stepped away lightly.

Akira almost collapsed on her desk in despair.

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Several days passed in a similar manner as the date of the school festival grew closer. Until one day…

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The desks had all been pushed to the side of the classroom to make room, and art supplies were everywhere as most of the class worked on the class project for the festival. Several groups of slackers and students taking breaks had formed, however.

"Did you hear? They say that if you confess to the one you love during the festival under the world tree, that you're destined to be together!" someone said.

"Eehh? I thought that was Tokyo U?" some else questioned.

"No no, there's some abandoned inn somewhere—"

"It's true!" Misora interrupted, her voice loud in the small room. "I heard from a senior that last year, a couple who was said to be an impossible match tried it out…and it worked!"

"What? Really?"

"Look look! The paper says it will 'overcome all barriers and problems', even age and looks!"

"Wow!"

"Oooh, all this talk of confessing makes me want to do it too!" Yuuna said as she slumped against the wall near Akira.

"Hmm? Who would you confess too?" Akira asked her friend.

"Well, there's not much choice, here…" the girl said as her face took on a hopeless expression.

"That's true…" Makie nodded sagely. Really, Negi and Takahata were the only men she knew here, and while Negi was cute, he was too young. Takahata was…not her type.

"There's someone I know~" Yuuna said with a devious grin.

"Really? Who?" Makie asked excitedly. Maybe she had somehow missed one...?

"That scary Max-sensei!"

"Eeehhh?" Akira realized her mistake even as she said the word and felt her face reddening as half the class turned her way. She should have kept her mouth shut…she quickly went back to her task, but it was too late as several of them came near.

And of course Yuuna had to throw more fuel on the fire; she had been especially prone to causing trouble during the past week or so for some reason, and Akira was starting to get aggravated…again something very out of character for the quiet girl. 'What is wrong with me?'

"What? There's nothing going on right? Or is there some reason you don't want me to confess to Max-sensei? Hmmmm~?" Yuuna said with a knowing grin as she draped herself on Akira's shoulders.

"N-no! I mean yes! No!" Akira almost shouted as she tried to dislodge the grinning girl.

"So which is it, yes or no?" Yuuna pressed on.

"Tell us, Akira chan!" Makie shouted, echoed by Fuuka and Fumika, who had come up unexpectedly.

Akira felt as though she had fallen into a whirlpool, and was currently getting sucked down into something she couldn't get out of. "N….nnn…."

"Hey, get back to work." *whack* *whack* *whack* Asuna's harisen connected with Yuuna, Makie, and Akira's heads.

"So mean~ Asuna-san," Yuuna whined as she went back to painting a set piece for Class 3-A's festival project, a haunted house.

Akira sent Asuna a silent look of thanks and got back to work.

"So, does Secchan have someone she likes?" Konoka asked after a moment.

Setsuna spluttered for a moment before finally muttering "I'm not really interested in any boys…" Everyone looked at her oddly for a moment, and she knew if she didn't say something, they would take her words the wrong way. "W-well if there was anyone, I'd have to say Negi-sensei," she offered as she kept her eyes on her work.

"Ooooh~?" Konoka teased. Her smile widened as Setsuna blushed.

"So how about you Asuna? Are you going to confess to Takahata-sensei?" Setsuna asked, eager to put the attention she was getting off onto someone else.

"Eh?"

"She always says she will, but she chickens out every year," Konoka supplied.

"What? Asuna is like that?" Setsuna asked, shocked as she took another look at the red head. She had thought Asuna was very brave...until now, at least. Wow!

"How can you say that, Konoka?"

"You should ask him for a date at the school festival," Konoka said, ignoring Asuna's previous question. "You heard what the others said. If you confess under the world tree, any couple will work out, no matter what!"

"R-really? Wait, that doesn't matter! Let's talk about something else!" Asuna shouted.

Things only got worse from there. Eventually, it was decided that Asuna would go on a practice date with Negi, in anticipation of the real thing…the date was to be the next day.

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"Hey Negi," Max said, looking at a somewhat older version of his young English friend on a deserted side street.

"Hello, Max-san," the boy teacher replied.

"You…are Negi, right? What is this, some kind of glamour?" Max asked. Negi looked to be about sixteen or seventeen...it was quite disconcerting.

"It's a kind of magic pill that Kamo-kun ordered online. They change your age, but it's kind of hard to get the age you want," Negi explained. "Want to try it?" he asked, handing a few over to the other man.

"Red ones make you older, blue ones make you younger," he explained.

"Huh. Ok, I'll give it a try," Max said, then popped a blue one in his mouth. With a puff of smoke, he was instantly eight years younger. He looked himself over and nodded. "That works pretty well, this is pretty much exactly what I looked like when I was seventeen or eighteen."

"You don't look as strong, and you're a bit shorter too," Negi said, trying to be helpful. Other than the afore-mentioned changes, Max looked almost exactly like he had before, though he was now much more lightly built and his face looked a bit softer. He could pass for a younger brother of himself, probably. He still looked like the sort of person that would pull a knife as soon as breathe, though.

"So where are you going, Negi?"

"I'm going to go on a practice date with Asuna-san!" the boy said happily, his smile looking odd on his teenage body.

"A practice date, huh?" Max replied, trying to keep the wistful tone out of his voice. He had most definitely _not_ had a normal childhood, and what with trying to stay alive and being sent on missions, had had very little time to spend going on dates. He felt like a fool when he realized he was envying a kid. "Huh. I'm an idiot, you know that Negi?" he said after a moment, the corner of his mouth twitching as if to hold back a smile.

"…you are?"

"Yeah, a total idiot. I'll walk you there, if you don't mind," Max said.

As they walked the streets of Mahora on their way to Negi's practice date, Max was pleased to note that what drove people away as a grown man seemed to draw people in as a teenager. He probably looked 'dangerous', or some such ridiculous concept. It was quite amusing. "You know, Negi, you'll have girls swarming all over you when you get older, looking like that."

"Really?" the boy asked as his face showed confusion.

"You'll have to beat them off with a stick."

The duo approached a small group of girls talking together on a sidewalk, and Max was disturbed to recognize Akira among them. He wanted to slip off somewhere and go around, but Negi didn't notice the man's discomfort and greeted them, speaking to the girl Max vaguely recalled as 'Ako', the girl who had been in the nurse's room when he woke up after Akira punched him a while back. For some reason, the pale girl had a guitar case strapped to her back. He was also quite sure that Akira was staring at him, so he put on a rather overdone 'tough guy' image and tapped Negi's shoulder.

"Hey, we've gotta go, c'mon."

Negi said his goodbyes and together the two 'teenage boys' continued on their way.

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"Wow, I didn't know you knew anyone like that, Ako!" Yuuna exclaimed when they had gone.

"What? I don't know him," the shy girl said as she tugged the heavy guitar case strapped onto her back to a more comfortable position.

"He called you Ako, didn't he?" Yuuna asked with a sly grin. "But what about that other guy? He looked…he looked…" She paused for a moment. "He looked….Dangerous!" she finished, with fire in her eyes and a wicked grin. She grabbed Akira and Makie and pulled them along as she hurried after Negi and Max. "I've got to see what they're going to do!"

Ako sighed and went on to her band practice.

When they finally reached the location of the date, Max hid behind a bush and watched while Negi approached Asuna. He knew he really shouldn't, he knew that he was far too old to be doing this sort of thing, but his curiosity was too strong, so he stayed where he was until they began walking, then followed.

He continued following them until he heard someone speaking from a few bushes away.

"Asuna's a total Oji-con."

"Konoka?" Max asked as he peered around the bush at the girl.

"Max-sensei…no, who are you?"

"It's Max." He looked them over, the embarrassed Setsuna and smiling Konoka. "Huh, so you two are following them too?"

"Ooohh, I wouldn't have recognized you, you look so young," Konoka said wonderingly. He flinched back in spite of himself as she got right in his face and squinted her eyes, then smiled. "Yep, you're Max-sensei, all right!" She had gotten along with Max-sensei right from the start, and didn't really understand why everyone called him 'The Scary Max Sensei' behind his back. Besides, Secchan said he was a good person...

"Ojou-sama please don't get so close to him like that," Setsuna said, looking embarrassed.

"Hmm? Why, Secchan?" Konoka asked as she clung to Max's arm. He looked very uncomfortable. "You can take the other side if you want," she offered.

"Nnn! No, that's not it, it's just…"

"What's the matter, Setsuna? Do you like the 'dangerous' type?" Max asked, grinning for real for what he thought must be the first time in weeks, maybe even since he had arrived here. 'Really, what am I doing here? I'm acting like some stupid kid!' he thought to himself. He looked up just in time to see Negi and Asuna go around a corner. "Come on, we're going to lose them."

"Ah, Hurry up Secchan!" Konoka said as she let go of Max and hurried to peek around the corner of a nearby building.

The trio followed Negi and Asuna all over Mahora, trying not to laugh too loudly at their mistakes and childish ways. However, they had no idea that they were followed as well.

"He looks just like Max-sensei," Makie said for the third time as she craned her neck around, trying to get a glimpse through the row of bushes.

"Doesn't he? It's weird, isn't it?" Yuuna asked. "I bet he's Max-sensei's brother, and that's what Max-sensei probably looked like when he was younger," she added. Akira had a thoughtful look on her face as she contemplated that comment.

"You're right," Akira said after a moment. She felt as though something strange was going on. He looked _exactly_ like Max-sensei, only a younger version. But that was impossible, right? So he must be a brother. She watched as he shared a joke with Konoka that left Setsuna spluttering in horror, and she saw his quick smile. No, it was impossible, Max-sensei never smiled that truthfully. Whenever she saw him smile after their first accidental meeting at the phone booth, it had always been that half-forced crooked smile that looked so ugly. She inched closer so that she could hear the Konoka and Max-sensei's lookalike talking while Setsuna kept watch. Max-sensei always kept himself separate from everyone else, even Setsuna, who often sparred with him. He was very strange like that, she thought.

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"So, why are they going on a practice date anyway?" Max asked during a lull in the date, when Asuna and Negi sat on a bench, eating ice cream.

"Because Asuna likes Takahata-sensei—"

"…what? No way, she likes Negi!" the disguised teacher said in disbelief as he shifted to a more comfortable position.

"She has liked Takahata-sensei ever since she was little," Konoka explained.

"Wow…I was under the impression that she really liked Negi. I mean, they get along so well and all. Huh," he said after a moment. "Maybe she just doesn't realize it yet?" Max asked, completely transformed into his new, temporary teenage persona now.

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"Maybe she just doesn't…" Akira muttered quietly and felt herself blush. 'Maybe she just doesn't realize it yet. Does that apply to me as well?' She remained hidden in the alcove between two buildings near Max-sensei's current hiding spot.

88888888

"Oh! There they go, we have to go now," Setsuna whispered to the other two, who quickly vacated their place behind a fountain and moved forward.

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"Time to move again," Yuuna said as she rose from where she had been kneeling a moment before.

"Akira?" she asked when she realized the long haired girl hadn't followed.

"Maybe I don't…I have to go, Yuuna, Makie. Sorry," Akira said as she stood and walked away rather quickly. Rarely had she ever lost her composure so often as she had these past two weeks. She was always the picture of a calm, collected, young Japanese woman, it just came naturally. And yet, since she had met Max-sensei she had fallen apart time after time after time, in public too! It was impossible, improper…immoral even. But she…she must be in love with him, there was no other answer! "I have to settle this," she said to herself as she steeled her nerves.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Aww, how cute. Or creepy, depending on your point of view. So what were Max's new orders? Sounds dangerous, whatever it is. And they say your body has an effect on your mind. Looks like Max has turned into a careless teenager again, if only for a short time.


	8. Chapter 8

**Still Waters Run Deep**: The Devil came down to Georgia

* * *

Night of June 19th

Evangeline A.K. McDowell glared at the long haired girl standing before her.

"You should stay away from him," Eva said.

Akira just looked at her as if she were insane. "Why?" They were standing on a deserted path between the school building and the dorm with only streetlamps to light the way.

"He's dangerous. Think of how the boy would feel if one of his students were to have an 'accident'," the short girl answered.

Was that a threat? "What do you mean?" Akira asked.

"That Max Linell," she spat his name. "He's not normal, stay away from him," Eva repeated as she tossed her long hair out of the way angrily and stalked past Akira.

Max-sensei wasn't normal? What did Eva-chan mean by that?

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June 20th, the first day of the festival

"Uuughhh"

He was sweating, it was really hot.

"Haaah, haaah"

The sensation of sweat on skin was incredibly uncomfortable. He took off the big cartoon gloves and detached the headpiece of his costume; he almost cried in relief when a cool breeze blew by.

"This costume is very… uncomfortable. Why do I have to wear this again?" Max asked.

Mana coolly looked him over and straightened his tie. "Since you are working as a member of security, you need to blend in and not be seen. This is the most efficient way to do so," she explained.

Max couldn't help but notice that Mana wasn't wearing a costume, but was instead wearing a nice looking dress and jacket.

"As a student, I am of course exempt from this," she said before he could even open his mouth.

At that moment, Takahata strolled up, hands in his pockets. "Good work, everyone. Max-kun, please put the headpiece back on your dog suit. Here are your patrol routes," he said, passing both of them a map with their routes outlined in black. "Good luck."

"It's not supposed to be a dog," Max said as he looked over the map. He thought he detected a quivering at the edge of Takahata's mouth, as if the older man were suppressing laughter. When he turned back to Mana-san, he caught a glimpse of an outright _smirk_ an instant before her face returned to its normal, neutral look.

"Is this a requirement for continued employment?" he asked, voice muffled by the costume's headpiece.

"In a way," she replied.

"…"

"…"

Max sighed.

Max paused on the sidewalk. Negi, wearing a rabbit suit, had just passed him heading east. But he had seen Negi not two minutes before, wearing his normal clothing, also heading east. And who was the cute girl walking around with him in that ridiculous bunny/angel suit? Was that Setsuna?

Something was going on, but before he could investigate, a group of kids ran up screaming that they wanted their pictures taken with the 'frog man'.

"Hey, hey, stop pulling on the suit. And it's not supposed to be a frog," he growled.

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Roughly thirty minutes before noon, as the sun began to really heat up, Max stopped in the shade of a tree to catch his breath. He hadn't realized just how exhausting it was to wear one of these costumes during the summer...those who had to do so for a living had his respect. After a moment, a girl lying on a nearby bench caught his attention; she appeared to be asleep. But on her head…

Cat ears.

He stared at them and felt his hand twitch. Maybe it was the effects of dehydration or heatstroke, or maybe just a passing whim, but Max felt an urge to investigate.

He didn't see where they attached to any accessories, it looked like they really were attached to the dozing girl's head. *twitch* … *twitch* He carefully approached and realized that she was older than he initially thought, easily well into her twenties; just short and sort of thin. She seemed quite odd too, curled up like a cat in the sunlight on the bench.

"…"

*poke poke* He gently poked the ear with his gloved finger.

_The ear twitched._

"Ok, that was weird," he said to himself as he backed up. A cat person? Uh oh, she was awake, and now she was looking at him.

"Ah, are those real?" he asked, disgusted at himself for doing such a weird thing in the first place. He had never seen a cat person before, though he had heard that they lived in the magic world…it made him curious. This one must be here for the festival.

"Hmm~? Well, _these_ are, yes," she said as she stretched languidly and slinked toward him across the bench as he backed up. "That's a nice badger costume, but I wonder what's underneath~?"

Max sweatdropped inside his costume, then turned and ran. Freaking responsibility.

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Some time later, at the world tree plaza…

"This is bad!" Negi said, eyeing the group of people getting ready to confess under the world tree.

"No, we don't have time to do it with your method!" Mana said as she pulled out her guns.

"Mana-san, no…!" Negi shouted.

Max stood and watched from a nearby sidewalk, slack jawed as Mana ruthlessly gunned down a group of twenty or thirty people and then passed it off on the witnesses by saying "Don't worry, we're filming a movie."

Though, what with the single guy that came walking up immediately after and the cool way she shot him, it sure did look like one.

"She's good, isn't she Max?" Max instantly went rigid, but forced himself to relax a bit.

"Hello, Marlin. What brings you here?"

Marlin was tall and dark, and a very good fighter. "Your mission, that's what. Come on, Max, why are you taking so long?"

Max turned to look at the man, who was draped comfortably on one of the benches that were present all over the campus and town, his arms resting on the backrest. Marlin was well known as a tough and wily fighter and looked every inch the part, though he had lost his fair share of battles.

"It's not that easy. This school is swarming with mages and others like her," he said as he gestured toward Mana.

"Are you sure you're not going soft?" Though sunglasses hid Marlin's eyes, Max could feel the piercing gaze the man was famous for back home.

"You know me better than that, Marlin. I'm just looking for the right time, I wasn't warned about the truncated timetable or the other changes in my orders until recently," Max said, unconsciously straightening up as he addressed the other man.

Marlin shrugged as he pulled out one of those cheap cigarettes he liked so much and lit it. "Just asking. And you know how the boss is, so insistent." He put the lighter away and looked at the crowds walking by over his sunglasses. "Oh, that's right. You probably don't know yet, Wilder stepped down, Marshall's our boss now."

Max sat down on the bench with a thump and removed the headpiece of his costume so he could get some fresh air and think. Wilder retired? Oscar Marshall had taken his place? That was insane! Marshall wasn't qualified for the job, anyone with a functioning brain knew that. And Wilder had been just fine the last time Max had seen him, he hadn't looked like a man ready to retire. Though having Marshall in charge would explain the drastic change in his mission...

"Why would Wilder retire?"

"Some government shakeup, I think. I've never paid much attention to that sort of thing," Marlin answered as he blew out a stream of foul-smelling smoke. "I just do my job," he said, looking pointedly at Max.

Max hardly even noticed the look, he just looked distantly at the headpiece of the costume while he absorbed the information. Inside, he was incredibly conflicted; his job, his pride, his sense of responsibility, and his senses of right and wrong and justice were all warring within him with no sign of any end. He wished he knew who had been in charge when he had received his new orders.

"I need more time."

"That's why they sent me. There is no more time," Marlin said.

"Can't you do anything? Come on, Marlin. We've been working together since Father Brian, right?"

"…that's low, Linell." Father Brian had been the one that had gathered the group together in the first place, back before they all joined the American Division. Max, Marlin, Nil, Guy, poor dead Rikki and Byron the water mage, among others. Even Arvel, that punk and troublemaker, had been there. Father Brian's death had been an accident, but one that Marlin had felt responsible for as the oldest of the group. From there, Max and Guy's abilities had drawn the attention of the American Division, and the rest was history. It was still a sore point for Marlin however, which Max had been well aware of.

"I'm sorry, Marlin. But there's just no way I can do it right now. This festival only lasts a couple more days, let her have her fun, then I'll do it. Alone."

"You've gone soft, Linell." Marlin leaned back on the bench and looked up at the sky. After a moment, he sighed. "Ok. You've got two days, but no more. I'll just tell them I had a hard time finding you." He stood up and stubbed out the cigarette butt with the toe of his shoe and then lit another. "If you pull something, you know what will happen."

Max nodded. Traitors were punished harshly, it was just the way this business worked. He sighed and rubbed his forehead, he could feel a headache coming on. After a moment he turned back to Marlin.

"How did you recognize me in that costume?"

Marlin gave one of his rare grins. "Trade secret." He gave Max's costume a long look. "How much are they paying you to wear that bear costume anyway?"

"It's not a bear costume," Max growled, sounding very much like a bear.

"Anyway, I took the liberty of entering you in the tournament." Marlin said this with an odd, expectant tone in his voice and a half-smirk on his face.

"What?" Max couldn't believe his ears. Marlin had taken it upon himself to enter Max into the tournament? Was he insane? This would not be pretty, he knew.

"You heard me. I know you wouldn't enter something like that yourself, but it should be a good way to let off some steam…I know how you hate long-term missions after all," Marlin said and then took one last, long drag on the cigarette, burning the remains of it down to the filter, which he dropped on the ground and stubbed out.

"Use the ashtray," Max said, his tone strict.

Marlin raised an eyebrow and lowered his sunglasses to get a better look at the other man as he reattached the headpiece of the costume. "Are you going native, Max?"

Max, face completely hidden now by the costume's headpiece, stood up again and looked at the other man. "You know me, Marlin."

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The tournament entrants would be divided up into several groups of twenty, with each group fighting it out amongst themselves until only two remained. After that, the survivors of each group would be put into a standard tournament bracket and proceed in the usual way until only one remained to be crowned winner. Max, now back in his street clothes, ended up in Group A.

He waited silently as the competitors were called up, then stood off toward the edge as the others in his group made their way into the ring. He shrugged off the light coat he had been wearing and tossed it down to the ground below, where it would hopefully avoid the sweat and blood that were sure to follow. He worked himself up into a fighting frame of mind as the other entrants slowly filed in.

He only paid vague attention to the announcements, and almost missed the start of his group's battle. He tripped the first man that came towards him and planted a fist in the back of his head as he fell, putting him out of the battle in roughly three seconds. It was a trick he had learned a long time ago, and it was one he had practiced until he could do it with his eyes closed. Almost immediately there were shocked gasps from the crowd, followed by a few boos...even the announcer stuttered for a moment. That was good. If the people here hated him, it would make things easier later, when he had to follow orders.

After that, another man came toward him with a wooden sword. Max took the sword away and broke it over the man's back, eliciting a more impassioned discontent from the crowd. Now he had Group A's attention, and most of the competitors turned to face him even as they watched each other warily. They paused a moment, looking at each other to see who would make the first move when a girl behind them suddenly shrieked "Get him!", startling everyone enough to leap into action.

Max grinned an ugly grin as they approached, and from there on it was a bare-knuckle free for all, his favorite kind of fight; with everyone throwing blind punches and gouging, kicking, and tearing their way to victory, it was a brutal melee involving little skill, just the passion of the fight as it became every man for himself.

The violence lasted perhaps two minutes, until Mei and Takane (who had started the charge with her shout) watched the last two men facing off across the ring. Max looked his opponent over and wiped some blood from his lip. The other man smirked and spit out a tooth.

"Heh, here I come," the stranger yelled as he charged. He was perhaps a little over six feet tall and strongly muscled, but Max still had a height and reach advantage. He set himself and let his punch take the man on the chin hard as he came in, driving him stumbling backward until he collapsed on top of Mei, their heads bouncing together.

Takane gaped down at the swirly-eyed Mei, then back up at the big man, who was approaching with fire in his eyes. She looked wildly around for a moment before Kazumi, the announcer, came to her rescue.

"A…and after that wild display, the winners of Group A are Max Linell-sensei and Takane D. Goodman-san!"

Takane watched Max continue his approach as she backed up fearfully. She had never seen someone who looked so…so savage. His shirt had been torn during the fight and now hung in ribbons, and large purple bruises were in evidence all over his torso, along with a bloody cut below his eye that left a gruesome splash of blood over the left side of his face and shirt. She glanced back at Mei as she backed away, reluctant to leave the girl but too cowed by the stranger's appearance to do otherwise.

Max, for his part, hardly noticed the blonde girl, instead he knelt down and rolled the dazed man aside, then lifted the woozy Mei up bridal style and carried her out of the ring to some waiting doctors while Takane watched in shock. The crowd was silent for a moment as they took in this development, then burst into cheers and whistles.

"Wow, what a display of sportsmanship by…the guy…that…anyway, what a display of sportsmanship! Lets have a round of applause for Max Linell-sensei! Now, for our next round—"

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Max sat under a tree far from the crowds, looking at the lights from the festival. He had slipped away from the 'Midnight Festival' earlier, seeking solitude in order to decide how he should handle the upcoming situation. Seeing that Mei girl lying on the ground like that had hurt him quite deeply…reminded him of his old girlfriend Rikki. He thought again of Akira and shuddered. He really was going soft…he just didn't have the stomach for this sort of thing any more. Maybe after this…he stopped that thought cold. There would be no more 'after this' or 'going home', not for him, not after what was coming. Not if he accomplished what he hoped to accomplish.

"I don't know what you want, but you had best leave Mahora." The childish-sounding voice came from his left.

Max looked up from his ponderings to see the same short blonde girl he had seen fairly often around campus. "…what?"

She glared down at him as if he were an insect. "Whatever it is you're planning to do, you'd better hope it doesn't affect the boy."

"The boy?" Max asked, wary of the newcomer. He had a feeling that she could be incredibly dangerous, like a venomous spider you didn't notice until it had bitten you and your hand swelled up and rotted.

"Negi Springfield."

Max looked back up at her and felt his mouth go dry. She was looking at him as if he were a mildly interesting bug or perhaps a piece of meat, and it was quite disturbing. He didn't know who she was, but she was terrifying.

When he didn't reply, she made a 'hmph' noise. "See that you don't forget." The girl turned and strolled away, heading down one of the many tree-lined paths that crisscrossed the school and town.

And then she was gone and Max was again alone under his tree.

"Weird girl," he said under his breath. Soon, Eva's threat was all but forgotten as he again poked and prodded the problem of Akira in his mind. No matter what scenario he put together, it wouldn't end well. Everything he was and everything he stood for simply wouldn't allow him to follow orders like this from a man like Marshall, and the other option was unthinkable. But any way he put it, he knew Marshall would never forgive any sort of rebellion and would do all that he could to punish anyone involved in such a thing, whether they were part of the American Division or not. Then there was the problem of his old friends. Marshall was the sort who might think it amusing to send his old friends to hunt him down; Marlin was already here, after all.

He worried over the problem through the night like a gemcutter with a jewel, turning it this way and that, checking every angle for problems and adjusting his plans accordingly. It wasn't until the first light began to appear in the eastern sky that he finally worked out a viable plan. It would be difficult to do, and would likely turn the school and the various mage associations against him, but he couldn't allow them to… He couldn't let Marshall get his hands on her, not without paying a heavy price. Max gritted his teeth as he stood and the stiffness in his joints along with the various bumps and bruises he had received in the fight several hours earlier made themselves known. This was the beginning of the second day of the festival. Hopefully, he could make a good showing in the tournament and at least end his normal life on a high note.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: And here's another one, and more background mixed in with the badly depicted action. And Eva, really? Threatening strangers? Well, that's to be expected, I suppose. Then there is Marlin. The devil came down to Georgia, indeed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Still Waters Run Deep**: We Come From the Land of the Ice and Snow

* * *

June 21st, Second Day of the Festival

Max and Akira faced each other in the area just outside the Tatsumiya shrine, where the tournament would be held.

Akira stared at him, eyes wide. She had seen the qualifying round the night before, and had seen what Max did to the other fighters. It had been vicious, terrifying even. And yet…he had helped that Mei girl…why? "Why?" she asked, eyes watering as she tried to forget the look on Max's face during the qualifying round.

Max looked down at her, helpless. "I don't know, really." He thought he knew what she meant.

"Why are you even doing this? I saw how you hurt the other fighters yesterday…why did you do that?"

He looked sheepish for a moment...an odd look on a man like him, to be sure. "It's the only way I know how to fight, really. I mean, at a time like that I can take a stick and pretend it's a sword, or I can hit someone really hard with my fist. That's all I can do in that sort of situation." He wished strongly that he had not run into her on his way to the tournament grounds.

"You could…you could drop out of the tournament," she said, almost hopefully. She didn't want to see him hurt anyone (get hurt) again (at all). Where had that come from? She took a deep breath and carefully reined in her wild thoughts; she felt almost possessive of him, for some reason.

A look of surprise flitted over his features at her suggestion, and he almost laughed. "I can't do that, Akira."

She was startled. It was the first time he had used her name like that since they met about half a month ago. She felt her heart beating faster again, and when she looked up, he was looking down at her. He looked like he wanted to hug her or something, but he didn't. He didn't do anything but stand there.

"Look…I've got to go. Take care of yourself Akira, and I've got something I want to tell you after I win, so stick around, ok?"

She swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded.

Max patted her head. "Don't worry, it will work out. I'll make sure it does." His voice was strong, sure.

She wanted to say something, anything, but he was already walking away, and the tears came unbidden. Why was she crying? Why did she feel so bad? It was as though a tide of energy suddenly rolled away and she was left feeling almost lifeless when he was gone. What was going on?

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"Akira?"

She looked up from where she was hiding behind some boxes in an alleyway. It seemed she was looking up at everyone lately, it was really almost funny…she had always been the tall one, but now…

"Akira, are you all right? Did something happen?" Yuuna's voice was surprisingly soft, but Akira only sobbed harder. Yuuna sat down beside her and put an arm around her shoulder while Akira cried even harder and leaned into her side. Yuuna, surprised at Akira's reaction, tightened her grip on the other girl and muttered meaningless things to calm her.

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It was the first fight of the tournament, and the crowd was had barely had time to get into the action. Max took a moment to step back and look at his opponent. The man had landed punches and kicks at least a dozen times since the start of the fight, but none of them were particularly powerful. Daigouin was quick, yes, but Max had been hit harder in the qualifying match the night before. He shifted to a better position as the man came in and narrowly avoided a spinning kick to the head.

Max decided that since he couldn't dodge his nimble opponent's attacks, he might as well just suck it up and let his right hand do the talking as he laid an uppercut to Daigouin's chin and darted in for another shot at the big man's stomach. The hit sent the man reeling, so Max quickly followed up with a vicious punch to the Daigouin's wind, doubling him over. He sidestepped a clumsy grab at his leg and followed that with a vicious hammer blow to the man's back that drove him to the ground. When he struggled back to his feet just in time to avoid a countout, Max kicked him hard in the chin and watched warily as Daigouin staggered backward several steps and then crumpled to the ground; the other man was down for the count.

The crowd let their approval of the fight be known as Max left the ring and returned to the waiting area, where he took a bottle of water and a towel from the attendant. His had been the first fight of the day, and it had gone quite well in Max's opinion. While Daigouin had landed many punches and kicks, they hadn't been particularly powerful. Give him a few years of strict training, however… The man needed some time and strength training; he would make a fine fighter, in time.

Max's attention was drawn by the announcement for the next match. Setsuna's turn was next, it should be interesting.

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It wasn't, not really. While Setsuna looked incredibly cute with her cat ears and deck brush, her poor opponent, Yamashite Keiichi, was quickly reduced to a quivering pile of tears and Setsuna was declared the winner after a short match, once again proving herself to be a highly skilled fighter.

After Setsuna's match, Kaede was up against some guy calling himself Colonel Sanders…it looked to be all Kaede until out of nowhere, Sanders knocked her out so quickly in an explosion of dust that no one was able to see what had happened. No one who knew Kaede had expected the ninja girl to lose in her first match, it was quite a shock and many meal tickets changed hands as students lamented their badly placed bets.

The fourth match pitted Mana against Ku Fei and was a dazzling, fast paced display ending with a shocking win for Ku Fei. Unfortunately, she had broken her arm at some point in the match and had to forfeit the next one, giving Colonel Sanders a free ticket into the semi-finals.

Takane Goodman's match with the robot Tanaka was a farce, resulting in an almost-naked Takane taking out the robot with a ridiculously powerful punch. The crowd loved it.

Negi's match with Nakamura Tatsuya was fairly run of the mill…for a videogame. It was the first battle of the day to show off attacks that could only be called 'magic'. While Ku Fei, Sanders, and the rest could be brushed off as highly competent fighters, and Tanaka was a robot and was thus expected to shoot lasers from his mouth and use the infamous rocket punch, this was the first match with honest-to-goodness, obviously normal humans pulling off insane attacks and shooting laser beams at each other. It was wild. It was insane. The crowd loved it, and cheered more loudly for Negi's eventual win than they had for Ku Fei, who had been the crowd favorite up to that point.

The next match put Asuna up against Eva. Asuna, supported by Colonel Sanders via telepathy, managed to hold her own for almost five minutes before Eva got serious and got the upper hand. From there, it was all downhill and Eva was declared the winner at the 7:34 mark.

The final match of the first round saw Takahata thoroughly school young Kotarou on the ways of battle. The young wolf did very well for his age, but in the end it just wasn't enough and Kotarou fell to Takahata's Iaiken and kanka, much to the pup's shame.

After a short break, the first match of the next round saw Max facing off against Setsuna.

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As they approached the fighting stage, Max glanced over to see Setsuna looking at him curiously.

"Why did you enter, I thought you didn't like tournaments?" Setsuna asked as she faced him across the ring.

"Actually, an old friend of mine signed me up. I didn't really want to enter, but since he signed me up... So, how about it? Want me to use my fists or a sword?"

Setsuna smiled.

"The sword it is, then," Max said lightheartedly as he motioned over one of the attendants, who quickly returned with a wooden sword. Setsuna had been beating him regularly in their friendly practice matches recently, but it was still far from a sure thing.

They took up their starting positions and waited for Kazumi to announce the start of the match.

"And here they are, the Swordsgirl Maid Sakurazaki Setsuna against the Wildfighter Max Linell! But what's this? He has a wooden sword! What is his plan, what will he do? Let's find out when the match starts in…3…2…1…Start!"

"'Wildfighter?'" Max asked rhetorically. Setsuna grinned again and Max almost laughed. It was strange, but he felt really good for the first time in a week. Maybe it had something to do with his final decision about the Akira situation, but he didn't really care. It was a great day to be alive!

The two fighters stared across the stage at each other for a moment, then leaped at the same instant.

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Yuuna had finally calmed Akira enough for the long haired girl to speak intelligently. "So come on, Akira. You can tell me. What's wrong?"

She sniffled. "I-it's Max-sensei," she said, trying to hold back tears.

Yuuna frowned. If Max-sensei had hurt Akira… "What did he do?"

"Nothing." Akira sniffled again and stifled another sob.

"He won his first match, you know," Yuuna said a moment later in a matter-of-fact tone.

Akira's eyes went wide. "I-is he ok? He didn't hurt anyone, did he?"

"N-no," Yuuna lied, thanking her lucky stars that Akira was too distracted to see through her lie. Well, it wasn't really a lie, that Daigouin guy would be fine when his broken jaw healed.

"He won, and he should be having his second match right now against Setsuna," she said, having heard the information from passersby a few moments before. She frowned a bit deeper as she looked at the other girl; normally Akira could tell instantly when she lied or even stretched the truth.

Akira looked down at the pavement below her. Did she really want to see?

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The match was heating up.

Max parried her strike and charged forward, his wooden sword forcing her deck brush aside in his approach. He stomped a foot down between hers and pivoted, throwing an elbow into the side of her face and tripping her at the same time. They both fell, and he drove a knee into Setsuna's stomach so hard that she spat out blood, drawing angry shouts and a few screams from the crowd and a grimace from Max as he rolled away. He hadn't meant to do that. He took a quick look around and spotted the Konoe girl; she looked more pale than usual as she gripped the railing that separated the spectators from the fighters.

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"Will he—will Setsuna-san be ok?" Akira asked hopefully.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about Setsuna," Yuuna answered with her usual lighthearted grin. "She can take care of herself."

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Max backed away and waited for Setsuna to stand as the shocked referee began to count.

"1!"

Nothing, no sign of any meaningful movement, she just lay there curled in a ball, coughing. Max glanced toward the waiting medics and back to Setsuna.

"2"

"3"

"4"

"5"

Finally, she was struggling to sit up.

"7"

"8"

And she was standing, one hand clutching her stomach, the other firmly holding her deck brush while her mouth stretched to a thin line.

Max observed her grimly and wiped the sweat from his eyes. His arm was really starting to ache from a strike he had taken early in the match. This would not be easy, and he could end up like Ku Fei had earlier if he wasn't careful.

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"Let's go see," Yuuna said.

Akira hesitantly nodded as she returned to her feet. She might as well watch, what was the worst that could happen?

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A brutal strike to the head had dropped Setsuna to the ground, and the girl had come up again a different person. Eyes wide and unseeing, she had attacked like a wild animal. Well, a wild animal trained in swordsmanship by some of the best teachers on Earth.

The girl had gone berserk, and it was all he could do to remain standing under her furious assault. After Setsuna's injury earlier, things had gotten serious. One thing had led to another, and now both combatants were covered in bruises and bloody welts. Setsuna's deck brush had been snapped when Max blocked a particularly brutal blow that left his arm half-numb, but she still retained the four foot-long jagged section of handle that remained. Max's wooden sword had a long crack and a great many dents, but would serve for a little while longer at least.

They stared at each other across the ring, chests heaving as they fought for air. This would be the last attack.

Some small noise set them off and they leaped at each other, and the crowd roared as Max's sword splintered violently.

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The two girls snuck onto the tournament grounds via a back entrance Yuuna had heard about and climbed up onto a roof to get a good view of the fight.

It was more than Akira could do not to scream when she peeked up over the edge of the roof at the combatants. She had arrived just in time to see the last exchange of attacks, as the jagged end of Setsuna's deck brush drove itself through Max's upper arm with a splatter of blood. She couldn't see what happened next, it was too fast, but suddenly in a fiery blast Setsuna was flying through the air, her head at an awkward angle, until she landed somewhere in the stands amid shrieks and screams. When she looked back at the fighting stage, any sign of the explosion was gone and Max had collapsed in a slowly spreading pool of blood. The announcer quickly declared the match over as medical personnel rushed to the aid of both contestants.

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For a time, all was chaos in the tournament grounds as everyone tried to figure out what was going on. The medical people had removed both competitors from the tournament grounds, and several small fights had occurred among the spectators as everyone argued and worried and waited. Rumors were flying as well. Setsuna had knicked an artery in Max's arm. Setsuna had a broken neck. Max had bled out on the way to the emergency room.

It was only when the announcer returned after almost half an hour that the crowd quieted.

Kazumi looked shaken as she approached the fighting stage and stepped warily around the splashed blood and debris. She steeled herself for a moment before raising the microphone to her lips.

"I am pleased to announce that both competitors Sakurazaki Setsuna and Max Linell will be ok! The doctors have worked wonders, and both are now resting comfortably on their way to the hospital for further treatment!" She paused as the crowd cheered. "However, due to the damage to the tournament area, the owners have declared that we will have a one hour break as the tournament grounds are cleaned and repaired. If you wish to leave the spectator area or the tournament grounds for any reason, please remember to have your ticket stamped by—"

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Max blinked several times to clear up his fuzzy vision; for some reason, he felt incredibly light headed and off balance. He seemed to be lying on a bed, and several people were standing around it, looking down at him. He lifted his hand up to his head and covered his eyes…the lights were way too bright.

"He's awake now, that's a good sign."

"Do you think the transfusion was enough?"

Max was only vaguely aware of this, the horrible ache in his other arm had all of his attention. 'Setsuna's stick did that. Then I…' He shot up to a seated position and flopped over immediately with a shout of pain.

"Linell-san, please sit back, you must not move! Here, you two, help me!" the doctor said as he tried to push Max back down.

When the pain faded back to slightly bearable, he opened his eyes and looked around again. He only saw one familiar face, Takahata, who was looking at him grimly.

"Is she ok?"

Takahata looked honestly surprised, maybe a bit confused. He hadn't expected the first words out of the other man's mouth to be something like that.

"Setsuna, is she ok? She's not—"

Takahata shook his head. "She's sleeping. She's quite lucky, you know," he said as he half turned and lit up a cigarette. "If she hadn't started to jump back, that last attack would likely have broken her neck," he said, looking at Max from the corner of his eye. "Konoka-kun is with her right now. You're lucky as well, I'm not sure I could have held her back if something permanent had happened to Setsuna-kun during your match."

Max nodded thoughtfully. The Konoe girl had always been all smiles for the most part, but he had a feeling she could be terrifying if she needed to be. 'Setsuna sure is lucky to have someone who cares about her like that,' he thought.

"She's too good to die from something like that," Max said, almost to himself. If the girl had survived something like that without even a broken jaw, she would be fine. "She wouldn't die even if you killed her," he said with a painful laugh. Everyone looked at him strangely for a moment. "I always wanted to say that," he explained. The doctor and nurses looked at each other.

"Apparently he is quite sensitive to the effects of morphine, doctor," one of the nurses said.

"Yes, I can see that. And will you put out that cigarette? You can't smoke that in here. Nurse, take that cigarette."

"Yes, doctor," the nurse said as she snatched the offending article from Takahata.

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They had put Akira in a plain room off to the side. She had collapsed at the end of the fight, and had been sleeping since. Yuuna, thoroughly freaked out, worried, upset, and a million other things, had followed them as they brought the other girl in to check her over.

According to the doctors that had examined her, it was a combination of extreme stress and lack of sleep that had caused her to faint. Quite a normal thing among students during the festival, unfortunately. In any case, Akira would be fine after some rest.

Yuuna stalked from the room. She thought she knew why Akira was so upset, the other girl had seen Max hurt Setsuna-san. Raging inside, she wandered through the hallways until she heard Max's voice. "I always wanted to say that," he said. Yuuna leaned against the wall near the doorway, steeling her courage. She waited until the doctors left, took a quick around, then entered the room.

Takahata-sensei was leaning against a wall and looking out the window, and Max was lying on a hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling. She stalked to the bed as Takahata turned to look at her. When Max turned his head toward her, she slapped him, hard. Then again, and then she climbed up and straddled him on the bed, pinning his arms to his sides with her legs and pounding her fists into his chest until Takahata pulled her off.

"It's your fault! It's all your fault, Max," she spat his name out, forgoing any sort of honorific in a show of disrespect; it was particularly potent since he was one of her teachers.

Takahata dragged the angry girl outside as Max's head swam. He could hear her yelling outside in the hall, but didn't understand why until he heard her yell something about Akira being here as well. He struggled to sit up, then turned and let his feet fall to the floor. He forced himself up and followed the wall to the door.

"W…where is…she," he asked, wheezing as the wound in his arm began to reopen.

Yuuna stomped over to him and maved to hit him again, but Takahata grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "She doesn't need to see you! Not ever again! You should just go off somewhere and…and die!"

"_Yuuna-kun_," Takahata said.

It was short and sharp, and Max knew it for a trick unique to excellent teachers and mothers.

For her part, Yuuna looked as if Takahata had slapped her. Suddenly quieted, she looked with wide eyes up at Takahata-sensei.

"What happened?" Max asked.

Yuuna glared at him and looked ready to bite his head off, but at a look from Takahata-sensei she answered him. "She's in one of the other rooms here, she passed out when she saw you try to kill Setsuna-san."

Max sighed and held a hand to his head. "She didn't need to see that," he said with another groan. He felt a killer headache coming on.

Takahata cut in after a moment's pause. "Yuuna-kun, he didn't try to kill Setsuna-kun. It was a match, these things happen. The two of them just got too worked up. You have probably felt the same thing when you play basketball, correct?"

Yuuna looked the other way and mumbled something. Takahata smiled and ruffled her hair. "It will be ok. Now, bring us to Akira-san, ok Yuuna-kun?" Max didn't miss the look Takahata shot at him. The implication was plain. 'Hurt one of my students outside of a match, and you won't be forgiven.'

The girl pouted and turned around, leading the way. 'She's kinda cute when she pouts,' Max thought to himself as he shuffled along, leaning on the walls. "Must be the morphine," he said aloud.

"Did you say something, Max-san?" Takahata asked.

"Nothing," the American muttered as he shook his head as he followed along behind the other two. He was aching all over in an oddly disconnected way, and would probably be very sore tomorrow. He paused at that thought.

Tomorrow.

In the excitement of the tournament, he had almost allowed himself to forget about tomorrow. He would have to act tomorrow, one way or the other. He trudged grimly on toward Akira's room.

Inside, the trio found Akira sleeping peacefully on a hospital bed; Max made his way to her side. Her sleeping face looked pained and worried, but softened a bit when he reached down and brushed some hair out of her face. The fire started to flare up, but he quickly got it back under control...it seemed he was getting used to her presence. Max turned back to Takahata and Yuuna. "Takahata, I need to talk to you."

The older man nodded and turned to the girl standing beside him. "Stay here with Akira-kun, Yuuna-kun. I need to talk with Max-sensei." Yuuna nodded and moved to stand protectively over Akira while the teachers exited the room. She looked down at her friend for a moment, then pulled over a chair and sat down in it backwards, leaning on the backrest as she watched the sleeping girl.

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Up on the roof of the building, Max approached the fence that blocked access to the edge.

"Takahata, this is important. It involves the life of one of your students." He glanced over at Takahata, who lit a cigarette and motioned for him to continue. "I have been ordered to capture Akira-chan and turn her over to a certain department in the American Division. Or short of that…" he glanced at the older man again. "Or short of that, ensure that she not fall into any other group's hands." He hooked two fingers into the chain-link fence around the edge of the hospital roof and looked through at the sunset. He supposed the tournament must have ended by now. He had been out for several hours, obviously; and his whole body ached fiercely. He wondered distantly who had won, then brushed it aside as unimportant.

"Do you understand what I mean by that?"

Takahata walked over to stand off to Max's side, about six feet away. "I understand." He took a heavy drag on his cigarette and held it in for a moment. "Do I need to stop you?"

Max thought for a moment, again going over his options. What he did here, now, would change everything. Whether it was for the better or the worse, he didn't know.

"No. But I have a plan."

"Tell me."

* * *

**Author's Notes**: I feel like my writing style changed in the first part. Anyway, Ouch. Ouch, indeed. And again, last minute plot thickening, though at least it's more than one line this time. And what about Yuuna, huh? Poor girl, must be pretty stressed out by this point. And a berserk Setsuna is not someone I'd want to face, that's for sure. That's it for this chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

**Still Waters Run Deep**: The Queen of Light Took Her Bow

* * *

Just before noon on the third day of the festival…

"I apologize for my dishonorable performance yesterday, Max-dono," Setsuna said, bowing deeply.

"No, you don't have to apologize, Setsuna. I'm sorry for what I did, too," Max replied, feeling awkward with the way the girl was bowing at him.

The others in Negi's group watched as Max and Setsuna apologized for their actions during the tournament the day before.

"Well, they sure are getting along well," Asuna said as she eyed the pair.

"Mm-hmm!" Konoka replied. She had apparently taken the whole thing quite well, after she had healed Setsuna's injuries with her magic and given Max a positively heartbreaking teary-eyed glare, anyway. Not that Setsuna's injuries had been particularly bad in the first place, though…the hanyou girl's natural healing abilities were quite good and had already started to undo the damage from the match by the time Konoka was allowed near her. In any case, she hadn't let Setsuna out of her sight since the fight except for a trip to the bathroom; Setsuna had only managed to convince her to let go of her arm about an hour ago. Anyway, Konoka, being the forgiving (if not forgetting) sort, was just glad that the whole mess with Chao's evil plan would be coming to a head this afternoon, as were the rest of them. Standing with Negi, Nodoka, Yue, and Haruna, she glanced over to where Ku Fei and Asuna were now describing their time-traveling activities to Max-sensei, who looked intrigued, if a bit reluctant to believe in the existence of a time machine.

"So, Chao's trying to expose magic to the whole world, and actually succeeded? But you guys came back in time to stop her? Sounds like you had a good time," Max said. "So…how was the dragon?"

"The dragon was huge, thirty meters at least!" Ku Fei announced.

Overall, Negi's group seemed to have adopted Max as an ally, albeit a dangerous one, when Setsuna announced her intent to apologize for what had happened during the tournament the day before. Max had become acquainted with some of them over the past few weeks, but others, like Nodoka and Yue, were complete strangers; and, judging by Nodoka's shy squeak when he greeted her, the short haired girl would be little more than a stranger for quite some time.

"So," Asuna began. "Are you gonna take part in the big battle this afternoon?" she asked Max.

"Big battle? I thought there was going to be a giant hide and seek game," the American said.

"That was put off in favor of a big battle. Chao's robot army will attack the six magic points around Mahora, and we've got to fight them off!" Asuna explained, already looking pumped for the excitement to come.

"Six magic points? Anyway, it sounds fun…can I use a sword?"

"Uh, I guess…right? What about your injuries? Are you gonna be able to participate? It looked pretty bad, yesterday," the red head asked, her eyes drawn to the spot where Setsuna's stick had gone through Max's arm.

"It's ok," Max said as he moved his arm in a circular motion to illustrate his point. "One of the mage teachers healed it. It's still a bit sore, but I should be fine."

Asuna nodded. "Anyway, it's being disguised as a Final Day Event, and everyone who wants to participate will be able to, even normal students," she explained, having been quite comfortable with the big teacher's presence for a long time now.

"But they're just normal people, right? Isn't that dangerous?"

"They will use special guns and protective equipment imported from the Magic World," Yue broke in.

"But still…"

"When we were in the future, Takahata-sensei said that despite the huge scale of the operation, not a single person was killed or seriously injured. Most likely, she will maintain that ideal," the short girl replied and then took a sip of garlic marshmallow cola.

"I see…So who all knows about this?" Max asked as he took another sip of weak coffee from the foam cup he held, silently thanking his lucky stars that he hadn't taken up the short girl's offer to get a drink for him.

Asuna spoke up. "Me, Setsuna, Kaede, Ku Fei, Nodoka, Yue, Haruna, uh…"

"Chisame-san, Konoka-san…Negi-sensei of course. We also told Headmaster Konoe, and some of the mage-teachers know," Yue added.

"I think that's everyone?" Asuna asked.

Everyone paused in their conversations as the PA system crackled and the speaker called out a list of names, some of Negi's group among them. Max was surprised to hear his own name called as well.

"Will all of you whose names have been called please report to Building A in fifteen minutes? Thank you everyone!" the announcer finished.

"Time to go!" Asuna said happily.

"Wait a minute, has anyone seen Akira? I need to speak to her about her classes," Max said.

"I think I saw her at an ice cream shop over there a few minutes ago," Asuna said helpfully, pointing the way.

"Thanks," Max said as he jogged off.

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Those who were to be involved in the big battle later in the day crowded together as they listened to one of the mage teachers explain their role in the upcoming event.

"So that is the plan. You may pick up your 'Hero Unit' costumes next door, where the theater club and sewing club will take measurements and adjust the costumes as necessary. That is all. Are there any questions?" The man looked around for a moment. "Very well, everyone will assemble in one hour at their designated places. You are dismissed."

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Max listened to the sewing club member rattle on and on about how exciting the event would be, and nodded or smiled at all the right places as he tried not to move. The girl from the sewing club had instructed him to stand up on a small pedestal and remain completely still. He had so far found that this could be quite difficult when the girl poked pins into him repeatedly under the pretense of being a newbie to the world of sewing. He winced as he was poked again, and sighed. This 'Hero Unit' costume looked ridiculous. He would be wearing some sort of shiny silver breastplate with swirly designs done in cheap brass all over it, with white feathery wings attached to the back, one on each side of a dark blue cape with fancy trim. It looked ridiculous, but at least the materials were light. Thankfully the breastplate wasn't a single, solid piece either, but was instead made up of many smaller lightweight pieces attached together in a way that allowed reasonable freedom of movement.

He might be pushed into wearing a funny looking cape, he might even be forced to wear the wings, but he flat out refused the old-fashioned hose that the sewing girl claimed went with it all. He settled for a pair of blue jeans stuffed into a pair of tall leather boots with the tops turned down; the boots looked like something a Hollywood-style pirate might wear.

When the girl announced that she was finished, he looked himself up and down in a nearby mirror.

"I look ridiculous," he stated. When he turned around, he could have sworn that the sewing girl was hiding a smirk. "And what's with these wings? They're just going to get in my way."

"It's what the costume calls for," she replied primly before she motioned for the next person.

"Great. Just great," he said in a tone that would send most normal people running. The sewing girl didn't budge; instead, she glared at him.

"And you'd better not tear them off! I went through a lot of trouble to make that costume you know!"

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled as he stalked out of the dressing room and ran straight into Asuna.

"Pff….Ha! Asuna, that's great!" he said, barely able to hold back his laughter.

The redhead huffed and crossed her arms. "At least I don't have fake wings, crow-san." Instead, Asuna was dressed in an odd amalgamation of armor and dress that looked to have been cobbled together by a blind person with no sense of balance, as shown by the heavy armor on her left arm and nothing but a cloth sleeve on her right.

"Crow-san, eh? Hah, I think I like that," Max replied, at ease in their friendly camaraderie. The girl was easy to get along with; her rough but goodhearted nature and her insistence that she was just taking care of Negi because no one else would amused him, and his fish out of water disposition amused her, so after the initial awkwardness passed they had often found themselves talking about random things whenever they met.

Max and Asuna complained to each other as they compared notes until another announcement interrupted their grumbling: "The attack has started early at the Mahora Lakeside. Hero Units twelve, thirteen, and fourteen head there immediately."

"Well, that's us. Let's go, Asuna."

"Yes!" Asuna replied, clenching her fist in front of her excitedly.

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As Akira entered the deserted dorm and rushed up the stairs to her room, she kept thinking about what Max-sensei had said earlier.

"_Akira, I want you to go to the dorm and pack some clothes and a few other things you would need on a trip, ok?"_

Akira had been confused at the time, but Max had shrugged off her questions.

_"It's very important, ok? Now, hurry up and go."_

"_What about the event?"_

"_The event's unimportant, just hurry and do as I say."_

As she pulled out a small suitcase, she couldn't help but entertain wild ideas of running away and l-l-livinginsinwithmaxsensei, but she drove those thoughts from her mind. Surely he didn't have anything like that in mind, right?

"Right?"

The room responded with silence and she couldn't help but feel a bit foolish. She was becoming like Haruna!

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"Out of the way, Yuuna!" Asuna shouted as she jumped down to attack the oncoming robot.

Setsuna and Max immediately followed. When Max and Asuna had run into Setsuna on the way to the lakefront a moment ago, the half-demon girl had been shocked and more than a little amused to see the wings on Max's back. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought they were an attempt to mock her own, hidden, wings, but when one of them fell off, she couldn't help but smile. They looked ridiculous!

She was wielding Yuunagi, while Asuna had her pactio weapon. Max, on the other hand, had a European style greatsword almost as long as he was tall, and he used it with an easy familiarity that indicated he had practiced long hours with it. She felt an urge for an impromptu spar, but they had more important things to take care of at the moment, as a new group of robots came at them.

"Asuna, take the left! Max-sensei, take the right!"

"Ok!"

"Got it."

She watched one of the bigger robots as it came straight for her. This would be fun!

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Akira almost screamed when she turned around and saw the man standing there in the open doorway of her room. He was almost six feet tall with darkly tanned skin, wearing a dark suit and sunglasses. She calmed a bit when he made no move to approach, but his position between her and the door was quite disconcerting.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" she squeaked out, mentally kicking herself for appearing helpless.

"Insurance. When Max comes to take you, I will be here to make sure he makes the right decision."

"…what?"

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"There's another one, he's all yours, Setsuna! I'll get that one in the road!" Max was forced to shout to be heard as he ran alongside Setsuna down one of the main roads of Mahora. The robots had come from all over, and were now swarming among the buildings and civilian players. The situation in this area was becoming desperate, and they had somehow become separated from Asuna in the chaos. Max narrowly dodged a stripping-ray and hacked through the offending robot's head with his greatsword just in time for Setsuna to come down from above and drive Yuunagi straight down through the body of another robot behind him.

They then went side by side, cutting a swath through the robotic opposition until their numbers were thinned enough for the civilian players to handle.

"Wow! So cool!"

"Thanks, Max-Sensei!"

"Kyaa, Setsuna-sama is so coooool!"

Max laughed out loud as he ran alongside the half-demon girl. He glanced over and saw her smile widening and laughed again, the grizzled sound drawing startled looks from the people they passed. Running alongside a skilled ally with nothing to do but face the enemy. Man, but this was fun!

"Giant robots are coming out of the lake! Run away!" someone yelled.

Max and Setsuna skidded to a stop and looked back. Sure enough, three gigantic robots were lumbering ashore while the civilians fired a few ineffectual shots and scattered. They turned back toward the lake, intent on helping their allies stop the enormous robots. Max was quickly left behind as Setsuna stretched her wings and flew, looking like an angel as she soared through the sky. Max continued to run.

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The stranger stood implacably before Akira, ignoring her protestations.

"No, that's impossible." Akira denied the man's word with a firm shake of her head, which sent her long pony tail wagging back and forth. "Max-sensei would never do that."

"No, you are wrong about that, little girl. He can, and he will. It's his mission. He will come back here and escort you to our transport. From there, you will be sent to our research division; I don't know what will happen to you beyond that. I don't necessarily like it, but that's how it is," he said, crossing his arms and standing before her like a wall.

"But why? He wouldn't trick me like that…would he?"

"You can ask him yourself. He should be showing up any minute now."

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Max hated to leave such a dangerous opponent to his…allies? His friends? Yes, he thought, his friends, but Akira's life depended on what he would do in the next fifteen minutes. He let himself get swept away in the flood of robot Tanaka-sans and was soon out of sight behind some buildings. He made short work of the nearby robots and rushed off toward the dorm.

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Mana, perched on a rooftop and sniping the more capable combatants in the battle below, spotted him leaving the battlefield and radioed the information to Chao.

"Please ignore him, ne? His actions are of no consequence to our plan."

"Understood."

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"…and here he is, right on time. Though his clothing is quite unusual," Marlin said, the hard lines of his face threatening to crack with a smile as Max entered Akira's dorm room, still dressed in his 'hero unit' costume and carrying a sword.

"Marlin…I didn't think I would see you here," Max said, taking in the layout of the room with a glance.

"Hello, Max. Now, do your duty."

Max looked from his old friend to Akira and back, and sheathed his sword. Marlin stepped aside as Max approached the bed where Akira was seated.

Akira, for her part, watched him approaching with apprehension. She scooted back on the bed in spite of her best efforts to stay calm until her back touched the wall and he looked down at her. Then his right eye twitched in what could only be a wink. 'Max-sensei winked?' She hadn't thought she would ever see him do something like that; it looked odd, coming from the big man before her.

"So, Okochi-san. I trust you followed my instructions earlier?"

Instructions? "Yes, sensei," she said, a bit confused. She hadn't expected him to ask something like that. And calling her Okochi-san?

"Do you have your suitcase ready?"

"Yes," she said. "Over there," she pointed to a dark blue suitcase propped against the wall.

Max knelt down and grabbed the suitcase handle, attempted to lift it up, and paused. "What the hell…what did you put in here anyway?"

"It's just—" Akira began, becoming more confused by the second. Why was Max-sensei acting so strange? Was this his true nature? Had he been deceiving her like the sunglasses man said?

"Marlin, give me a hand with this, will you?" Max said, cutting off Akira's reply.

The other man raised an eyebrow and strolled across the room as Max set himself to give another tug. Marlin, who had glanced over at Akira, never saw what hit him. The suitcase popped open on impact and suddenly the room was filled with flying clothing and various other items of a feminine nature as Marlin went reeling, nose smashed and bleeding. Max dropped the suitcase and was after him in an instant, punching the shorter man in the gut and shoving him against a wall, knocking down a picture frame as the wall made a loud wooden crack. Marlin grabbed Max's costume armor and pulled him down to the floor where the two wrestled around, struggling for the upper hand.

Akira, not panicking at all now that the waiting was finally over, grabbed a first place swimming trophy from a dresser and bashed it over the back of Marlin's head, shattering the trophy and stunning the man.

Max wasted no time. He grabbed a shirt that had landed nearby when the suitcase popped open and used it to hog tie the shorter man, then punched him in the head a few times, drawing more blood and rendering him unconscious.

"Ok Akira, time to go. Grab what you can, we'll buy whatever else you need. Hurry!" Akira nodded and stuffed some necessities into a bag, and in minutes they were off.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: This is pretty much the halfway point…are things getting interesting yet? And that had to hurt, getting hit in the back of the head with a trophy. Anyway, it seems like Akira is starting to get back to her usual calm self. That trophy bit was pretty resourceful.


	11. Chapter 11

**Still Waters Run Deep**: Many Times I've Gazed Along the Open Road

* * *

Takahata knelt down and touched one of the spots where blood had dripped on the carpet in Akira's dorm room. "It's dry."

The other two teachers looked at each other grimly; too much time had passed for an immediate solution to the problem. The room was a mess; clothes were strewn everywhere, pictures were knocked off the wall, and the shattered remains of a trophy lay here and there on the floor, along with a broken suitcase and the occasional small splash of blood.

The implications were obvious: there had been a fight and Akira-kun had been kidnapped. Takahata had been over this with Max before the final battle with Chao-kun…he was supposed to have spirited the girl away silently when everyone's attention was on the big last-day celebration; he wasn't supposed to have ransacked her room. He still remembered Yuuna-kun's panicked look when she had finally found him earlier, just before 1 a.m. The poor girl was worried sick about her friend, and she wasn't the only one. Half of Negi-kun's class had heard the news by now, and they were all crowding around in the hallway, still in whatever costumes they had worn during the party. Only those who had not yet returned to the dorms were unaware.

This blood on the carpet, though…that was unexpected. Some of it at least had come from whoever had been hit with the swimming trophy, as evidenced by the blood that still coated the base. There were several short brown or black hairs as well, so whoever was hit had been hit in the head. Oddly enough, the hair didn't match Akira or Max. 'Not that those two would attack each other anyway' Takahata thought to himself. The two of them had been as thick as thieves for a week now, and the suitcase itself indicated that she had at least been packed in preparation for a trip, so she had likely been aware of the situation.

Then there was the issue with the shirt. It was a normal cotton shirt, but the sleeves had been stretched out of shape and then cut through. That indicated that someone had been tied up and later released…or escaped.

So an unknown third party had attacked either Akira-kun or Max, was beaten and then tied up only to escape later, possibly through outside help, though there was no evidence for it. Takahata pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

"Touko, tell security to be on the lookout for a suspicious person. The subject has short dark hair and a head injury and heavy bleeding, gender unknown. Most likely has a concussion. Possibly armed, most likely dangerous. Also, send two or three people here to patrol the dorm, it will help the students relax, let them know we are doing something about this." He ended the call and turned to the other two mage-teachers standing in the room. "Seal it up; no one gets in here. Let her roommate get whatever she needs from the school store, I'll reimburse the store later."

"Yes sir."

He took one last grim look at the room, then, taking a deep breath and pasting on a friendly smile, shut the door and gathered his old students together.

"I want everyone to stick together now, ok? It seems as though one of you has run into some trouble, but we have reason to believe that she escaped and is safe."

"How can you know that? What if…what if Akira is…" Yuuna broke in, the worry clear on her face; such a big change from earlier during the festival when she had jokingly called herself Yuuna Kidd after getting fourth place in the giant battle. Takahata sighed internally. If it wasn't one thing, it was another.

"It seems as though Akira-kun was attacked, but fought off her attacker. I believe she has escaped with the help of an unidentified third party." He looked from face to face, doling out confident smiles and nods as needed. "You don't need to worry, we have people out searching for them as we speak. Just keep an eye open for anyone acting in a suspicious manner. Now, you should all get some rest. I will speak with you again in the morning."

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Miles away, two people trudged along on a narrow bicycle path through a forest.

She watched his back shyly, unsure of how to act. Other than a few brief instructions, Max-sensei had been silent since they left the dorm; the complete lack of conversation between them was a bit odd. Since that time when Asakura threatened to print that story about the two of them, they had gotten along quiet well, she thought. Except for the occasional bump, like what had happened during the tournament. When they met on the street, Max-sensei would stop to chat with her, something that he only did with three other people that she was aware of. She supposed other people might think him rude or standoffish, but she felt that she at least understood him a little, and hoped Negi-sensei, Kagurazaka-san, and Sakurazaki-san understood how rare it was for Max-sensei to become comfortable enough to have random conversations with someone. She couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of it- _Why am I jealous? I've only known him for a few weeks!_ –even if she knew it was childish.

Normally, Max-sensei would meet her eyes and nod at her at least, and she would smile back, but he had refused to even look at her since the brief fight at the dorm. Regardless of all this, she continued walking behind him, drawn onward as he led her through the woods.

The two of them had hiked through the woods behind Mahora until they could barely hear the sounds of the festival, and then Max had changed out of his ridiculous 'hero unit' costume and thrown it into a stream, weighting it with rocks so it would stay submerged. From there, they had made a quick stop at a convenience store, where Akira had picked up a few essentials and Max had purchased all manner of things, such as bottles of water, non-perishable food, kite string, first aid supplies, and the like. It seemed as though he planned on an extended trip on foot, so Akira slipped on a pair of sneakers at the first opportunity, tossing her sandals in a nearby trash can.

They had walked for hours until her stomach growled, then he had stopped only long enough to dig out a pack of snack-crackers and toss them to her. After that, the two of them had continued walking in silence, stopping from time to time while Max looked at a tree or a hill or something on the ground and occasionally corrected their course; she didn't understand exactly what he was doing, but his silent back seemed so forbidding that she didn't ask. Her eyes kept getting drawn to the long wrapped bundle strapped to the side of his hiking pack…it clanked now and then, and she couldn't help but think of the sword he had carried strapped across his back earlier, when he had still been in costume. It seemed a bit too bulky for just that, though.

They kept walking until the sun rose in the eastern sky, and finally took refuge in an abandoned warehouse in a small, run down town.

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The day after the festival, several girls gathered in Makie and Ako's dorm room. Most sat on the floor or the bed, but Yuuna sat crosslegged in a chair, eyeing the students gathered before her.

"So how was it, Fuuka-chan, Fumika-chan?" she asked as she unfolded one leg and kicked off the floor to make the chair spin.

"Max-sensei is not in his room, and some of his things are gone," Fuuka replied while Fumika nodded in agreement, both with serious expressions for once.

"Ako?"

"The teachers won't say anything, it's very suspicious," she said, nodding.

"Ok then. Even more suspicious," Yuuna said, pushing off from the desk this time to make the chair spin again. "Misa-san?"

"No one has seen Max-sensei since the big battle at the end of the third day of the festival," she said while the other two cheerleaders nodded in agreement.

"Most suspicious."

Everyone nodded.

Yuuna jolted the chair to a stop and sat up with a serious look on her face. "Then, as the leader of the 'Let's Find Akira-chan!' club, I declare that our next order of business is to track down Max-sensei and save Akira-chan!" Yuuna shouted. Everyone cheered in response. At least, they did until the door flew open and Negi stepped inside.

"Seat #2, Akashi Yuuna-san, as your teacher I cannot allow you to do this!"

The small group of girls turned around to see Negi-sensei and Asuna-san standing in the doorway, while Makie waved in an embarrassed manner behind them.

"Hey, Makie! You were supposed to be our lookout!" Yuuna said accusingly as she put her hands on her hips and frowned.

"Ah, sorry! They heard everyone cheering when they walked by," the gymnast said as she hung on Negi's arm.

"I can not allow you to do something like this, Yuuna-san!" Negi declared again with a serious look.

Asuna stepped forward. "You heard how it is, let us take over from here!" she said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest in a 'tough guy' manner and grinned confidently. 'Man, I am awesome!'

"Setsuna-san and Mana-san are already out searching. We'll find something soon, and then we will bring back Akira-san safely," Negi said with fire in his eyes.

"Oooh!"

"That's a teacher for you!"

"He's all fired up now!"

The girls spoke lightheartedly as they crowded around Negi…all but Yuuna, who stood back with her arms crossed, scowling.

Asuna spotted her and walked over. "Don't worry, we'll find her," she said as she put a reassuring hand on Yuuna's shoulder and made a fist with the other. "We will bring back Akira no matter what!"

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"Or so I thought, what do you mean I can't go?" Asuna asked some time later as she faced Negi in their dorm room.

Negi looked sheepishly at the floor. "Takamichi said to let him handle it." The poor boy looked ready to cry with worry over his missing student.

"Ta—Takahata-sensei said that?"

Negi nodded as his lip began to quiver.

"Wha…don't cry! You can't cry now! You're the teacher!" Asuna shouted as Konoka and Setsuna came into the room.

"I'm sorry, Asuna-san, Negi-sensei. The teachers found out and I was told to stop searching," Setsuna said as she gave a small apologetic bow.

"I guess it can't be helped then," Asuna said, letting go of Negi's face. "Did you find anything?"

"The costume Max-sensei was wearing at the festival was at the bottom of a stream in the forest, and I found a pair of sandals that I have seen Okochi-san wear from time to time. It seems as though they are heading west."

"West? Why west? It doesn't make any sense!" Asuna said as she tried to figure out where they might go in the west.

"In any case, they have had almost a day's worth of travel time. They could be anywhere by now," Setsuna said. She sounded tired. "They could have continued westward, I suppose," she added when she saw Negi's crestfallen face.

"Kyoto is to the west," Konoka supplied.

"That's right! The Kansai Magic Association would probably know! Under the current truce agreements, Max-san would have to introduce himself to the leader there, even if he were just passing through," Negi said, clutching at this ray of hope.

"Right! So, off to Kyoto! Then we'll find Max-sensei and find out why he took Akira away!" That was something that had been bothering Asuna from the time she found out Akira and Max had both disappeared. She hadn't thought Max-sensei was the sort to go around kidnapping young girls for sketchy reasons, and a quick chat with Setsuna about the subject revealed similar beliefs on the half demon's side. Both agreed: Whatever the reason Max-sensei had taken Akira away, it wasn't anything lecherous; he just wasn't the type. So then…why?

Asuna came back to the present to find everyone looking at her. "Eh? What?"

"There is something you are forgetting, Asuna-san," Setsuna said.

"Eh? What? What? Tell me!"

"We still have finals coming up," Negi said. "We can go afterward, though," the boy teacher added, looking troubled. "I had wanted to go back to Wales this summer, but…" he said, trailing off as he poked his index fingers together and looked down at the floor.

"Ugh, finals…don't remind me," Asuna groaned as she flopped down on Konoka's bed with arms and legs sprawled out everywhere, completely oblivious to the fact that her current position showed the contents of her skirt to any who cared to look.

"A-Asuna-san!" Negi spluttered, arms waving wildly while Setsuna tried to calm him.

"It's not that bad, I'll send a letter to my father. He will prepare some rooms for our arrival! Ah~ going home again, how fun," Konoka said.

44444444

"So, where are you headed?" the truck driver asked as he glanced at the two strangers again.

"Going to a friend's house outside Kyoto," Max answered as he stared blankly through the windshield. Akira had fallen asleep some time ago, and was now leaning on him. Max hadn't wanted to hitch a ride, but Akira was exhausted after two days of walking so they had had no choice. The girl hadn't complained at all however, and he was grateful for that; it seemed he had judged Akira correctly. When she got older and gained more experience, she would be the kind of person he could trust to watch his back through anything.

Earlier in the day after he had finally realized just how tired Akira was, Max had waited for someone that didn't look like a local to pass by, and ended up flagging down the box truck they now rode in. The driver seemed normal enough, but Max didn't like the way the man's eyes kept straying to Akira's legs. She was wearing shorts, and they were riding up as she slumped in the seat while she slept.

"How about you?" Max asked.

The driver seemed startled for a moment before he replied. "O-Okayama." He stayed quiet after that and Max was relieved at not being forced to carry on a meaningless conversation with a stranger. He eventually dozed off.

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"This is as far as I can take you," the driver's gruff and worried voice woke him up. Max sat up and looked around. It was daytime, or at least morning, and they were stopped at a small town in a mountainous region. He felt Akira stirring beside him and glanced over at her.

"Wake up, Mai. You're showing your sleepy face to the world," he said, the corner of his mouth twitching as it threatened a smile. Mai was the fake name they had decided to use for her while traveling in order to throw off pursuit. It wasn't particularly imaginative, but it was at least worth a shot. They had decided that he would be Jonathan. After all, it almost made him grin to hear the way she mispronounced it.

"Hmm…?" Akira mumbled as she sat up and looked around. "Where are we?"

"About an hour from Kyoto," the truck driver said. "Please, just…get out."

Max reached for his things and noticed that his pack had been tampered with. He also noted that the cab of the truck had become very hot, and even as he watched, a bead of sweat made its way down the truck driver's face…apparently the man had been going through his belongings, and Max had somehow sensed it and flared in response while he was asleep; it wasn't so far fetched, he was a light sleeper and had seen similar things many times before. He quietly opened the door and let Akira out, then climbed back in to get their things. He dug opened his pack and found his wallet at the top. A quick check revealed nothing missing, but his mage ID was plainly visible. He quickly flipped the wallet shut and put it back into his back pocket. As he closed the pack again, he slipped the truck driver a $50 and gave the man a level look. "You never saw us, okay? You just took a wrong turn in the night and ended up somewhere else."

The driver nodded and loosened his shirt collar a bit; it was getting hot in the truck cab. "Yes. But what about this?" he said, indicating the US $50, which he grasped between two fingers as if it might bite him.

"You found it when you stopped for gas somewhere," Max offered.

"Okay." The man seemed relieved to have them out when Max finally closed the passenger side door, and quickly drove off without another word. Max was relieved as well, but it was still a huge risk to hitch a ride like that, not to mention that the man had to have seen his mage ID card...he shrugged it off. There was nothing to do now but hope for the best and get moving; he took in their surroundings with a quick glance. They were at a gas station on the outskirts of a small town of probably a thousand people; he could see a budding housing development half a mile down the road, but there was a lot of empty space here, and empty houses as well. Apparently the town had gone through some tough times.

"Can you ride a bike?" he asked Akira, who nodded. "Good." Soon, the two of them were mounted on bicycles Max bought from an old couple and headed off down a narrow mountain road.

After a few miles, Akira finally broke her silence. "I thought we were going to Kyoto…?"

"Not really," Max replied without looking back, he was well aware of her eyes on his back. "We're going to a little place I know in the mountains outside of Kyoto. It's a rough trip, but you can handle it."

Akira remained silent as she digested that information. Max had confidence in her abilities, did he? Well, she wouldn't prove his trust misplaced.

They rode for half the day, keeping to deserted backroads and weaving their way up narrow switchback mountain roads for quite some time before Max turned off on what seemed to be a vague deer trail that led deeper into the woods. This area was remarkably deserted for being so close to Kyoto, it was probably private property or a nature preserve, or else considered too rough to build on. Soon the trees began to thin as they climbed up a fairly steep rocky slope where they were forced to dismount roughly two thirds of the way up when the grade became too steep.

"We're almost there," Max said as he stopped to let Akira catch her breath. After a moment, they continued on, pushing the bicycles.

Soon the slope grew less severe and they remounted their bicycles. It was rough going, but nothing the two of them couldn't handle.

They followed the winding mountain trail until they finally reached a wide flat area ringed by trees. Max led Akira to the far side, where the rock rose almost vertically.

"We have to leave the bicycles here," he said as he dismounted and walked his bike into a small hidden cave in the rock, ducking his head as he entered.

Akira paused at the entrance, a bit hesitant to step into that blackness until Max came back out and passed a flashlight to the girl.

"There's a small room to the right when you enter, you can put your bicycle in there. Come on."

Akira took a good look around with the flashlight as Max led her through the twisting tunnel, cursing under his breath once when he hit his forehead on a stalactite. The cave was of the usual sort, created by the action of wind and water in some bygone age; it was small and narrow, but never so small that they had to crawl or so narrow that they couldn't pass. The occasional room or tunnel branched off here and there to one side or the other, but Max ignored them, so she did as well. Water dripped from the ceiling here and there, and Akira shivered and barely held back a squeak when one cold drop slid down her spine. When they emerged on the other side, the sunlight came so suddenly that it dazzled her eyes for a moment and forced her to clap her hands over her eyes to protect them. When she finally lowered her hand, she gasped at the sight before her.

They stood on a mountainside overlooking a pristine natural valley enclosed on all sides. A waterfall, perhaps thirty or forty feet high, poured from the mountainside on the eastern slope and formed a clear stream which collected in a low spot in the west end of the valley, forming a small lake. The lake, in turn, flowed out through a hole in the rock, fueling other such spots in lower valleys as it made its way to the sea. While the sides of the canyon sloped gently upward on the north and west, it was quite steep on the east and south. The valley floor was covered in trees with the exception of the occasional small clearing and one large open space near the lake. It was quite beautiful and picturesque, though it was certainly a pain to get to, as Akira well knew by this point.

"Where is this?"

"It's a safe place, none of the magic associations can touch us here," Max said, a small, natural smile fluttering into being briefly on his face and then disappearing.

Akira looked at him oddly for a moment, but remained silent.

"Well, let's go. The cabin should be near that small clearing in the north."

They climbed down the steep mountain path, then hiked into the trees. Though the place had looked untouched by humans from the mountainside above, Akira could see the telltale signs of human habitation here and there among the trees. The occasional tree with a shimenawa wrapped around its trunk (or that was what she thought they were called, anyway), occasional stumps that looked to have been cut by something sharper than an ax, and once a well that was boarded over.

Max had said that the cabin was to the north, but after a moment Akira realized he was heading east, toward the waterfall. Once there, he took off his pack and unwrapped the oblong bundle that Akira had been eyeing from the moment they left Mahora. Inside were several swords of varying design. Max removed an ancient sheathed katana, and lightly tossed her a shorter one, probably a wakizashi or something similar, she thought. He then went up a narrow trail that led up behind the waterfall. After a moment's hesitation, Akira followed.

There was a small cave behind the waterfall. It contained a well aged shrine with an ancient, empty sword rack standing before it. Max knelt and placed the old katana on the rack, and prayed silently for a moment before the shrine. When he was done, he motioned for Akira to do the same. She looked at him questioningly.

"It's for safekeeping," he said, answering her question before she had even spoken it.

As she approached, she couldn't help but feel another presence…not Max, but something else that seemed to be watching her. Akira knelt and placed her wakizashi on the rack below the katana, felt another pulse of something. She turned to Max, but he nodded and indicated that she should continue, so she clapped her hands together and began to pray. She didn't know what to pray for, exactly, so she just repeated an old prayer from her childhood. As she continued, she couldn't help but feel as though something or someone other than Max had its attention focused on her. When the voice came, it was all she could do to not jump to her feet.

'You amuse me, child. Very well, you have my protection.'

Akira looked around wildly, but Max didn't seem as though he had heard it. A drop of water fell from the roof and splashed on her face, and she heard the voice again.

'A token of my protection. Be careful, water child.'

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Nilren Riggs was no fool. As a top class hacker and sometimes spy, he couldn't be. So when his first investigation indicated that the target was simply on vacation with a relative, he knew instantly that something was wrong. For one thing, there was little interaction between the target and her family. They exchanged letters once a month, and that was it other than a token visit from time to time. The disappearance of Max Linell and the failure of Marlin to report in firmly cemented in his mind the notion that things had gone wrong in Japan. After the political shakeup that had occurred at HQ just after Max left on his mission, things were still chaotic, but the mission was of the utmost importance. When Marshall had ordered him to investigate, he did so without a second thought, regardless of what he thought of the man. Sure, everyone had liked Wilder, the elderly, almost fatherly man that had run their section before Marshall, but he was no longer here. Wilder had been forcibly retired, allowing Marshall to step in. Marshall was a fat bag of wind as far as Nil was concerned, and Nilren, 'Nil' to his friends, couldn't stand the man.

It didn't matter.

Nilren was intelligent. Nilren was clever. But most of all, Nilren enjoyed his life and did whatever he could to preserve it.

It appeared Max Linell had gone rogue. Regardless of his status as an old friend, Nil had to go after him, and he did. He traced phone calls, hacked into private records, tricked the police into declaring Max a suspect in several crimes; he pulled every trick he could think of to find the man. However, as the days went by, all his efforts resulted in nothing. It was as if Max had dropped off the face of the planet. None of the magic associations in Japan had seen him, none of his old friends had heard from him, not even Jennifer, and that was really something.

Nilren stepped off the airplane and into the airport. From there, he took a taxi to a certain hotel in a town called Mahora. He got a certain room (previously used by a certain foreigner) and set up shop there, unpacking his gear with great care. Soon he was searching the private databases of the local all-girls school, and confirmed a few of his earlier findings before being abruptly shut out of the system. He tried to force his way back in, but found himself completely walled off. He followed a hunch and found his system to be thoroughly locked out of any network. Even as he tried to correct the problem, an odd looking cartoon girl dressed in a bunny-girl suit appeared on his screen and wagged her finger mockingly, as if saying 'No no no.' His screen abruptly cut off, and he realized that his laptop was now so much scrap.

He grinned. It seemed as though some very skilled hackers protected the Mahora computer systems. Very well, if they want to play hardball…

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"Ok class, the final exams are today. Does everyone have your tests and cover sheets? Pencils?" Negi looked around the classroom. "Ok, start!"

The class had adapted quite well to Akira's absence in the days since her apparent kidnapping. Yuuna-san had been uncharacteristically quiet and Ayaka had acted as though someone had personally insulted her, but other than that everything had been slowly getting back to normal. At first, Negi had had to pester Takahata for every bit of information, but the older teacher had finally given in and allowed Negi to attend the meetings the teachers had about Akira. As those meetings wore on and on with little or no news, Negi grew more concerned. He had tried to hide it, but Asuna had caught up with it right away, and soon had him confessing everything.

Of course, sitting back and waiting had never been Asuna's strong suit, or Negi's either for that matter. So they planned to disobey Takahata's direct orders and search for Akira themselves. So far, Asuna, Setsuna, and Konoka were already in on the plan, though Haruna was slowly wheedling the details out of him. He supposed Nodoka, Yue, and Haruna would soon be joining as well.

88888888

After the last of the finals had ended, Chisame searched for Chachamaru, and finally found her feeding some stray cats in a vacant lot in town. She loathed asking for help from a robot, of all things, but it was necessary. Chachamaru had shown considerable skill during the festival, and Chisame was in way over her head.

She took a deep breath and started. "Chachamaru-san."

The robot girl looked up from the cats. "Yes?"

'She's smiling. The robot is smiling. Why is she smiling? She's a robot! This is insane! I shouldn't even be here!' She took a deep, calming breath and put on a forced smile. "N-nothing! I'm going to go now!"

"Is it about the attempted hacking yesterday?"

Chisame froze as a look of horror crept over her face. _The robot had read her mind._ "How did you know that?"

"By chance, I was running a maintenance check of the school's systems when the attack began. I was about to intervene when you ruined the invader's machine." She paused for a moment, as if searching for the correct phrase. "Well done."

"Er…thanks." 'I just said 'thank you' to a robot! Oh no, I'm becoming strange, no doubt about it!'

"You are welcome," the robot said. She continued looking at Chisame expectantly.

"Er…he's back. He's poking around the edges of the system, trying to draw me out," she said, looking concerned. "He fried one of the school's computers when I went after him," she continued, ashamed of her failure. "He's got some high end rig, I'm not sure what, but it was able to—" She rattled on for a moment, describing what she knew to Chachamaru. "In short, I can't match him with what I have, and he's so good I don't want to risk using my artifact." She took another deep breath. This was the hard part. "A-and…" She paused.

The robot looked at her patiently, the serene look never leaving her face. "Yes?"

'Grrr…why am I doing this? It's so humiliating!' "I-I-I need your h-help. Please," Chisame said, utterly deflated. 'Gah, I want to die!'

"Understood. I will make Hakase aware of the situation, and she will prepare suitable equipment as soon as possible." Chachamaru stood up and primly dusted off her uniform skirt, then approached Chisame. "Come with me."

"Eh? What are you—EEEEYAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Next thing Chisame knew, Chachamaru was holding her bridal style and they were flying through the air a thousand feet above the ground. 'I'm gonna die, I'm really gonna die for real this time!'

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Hacker duel. Unfortunately, I only know enough to embarrass myself, so no hacking info for you guys. Also, I wanted to do a big traveling montage, but…Japan's a bit too small for that, so you just get Max and Akira falling asleep in the cab of a box truck. Oh well.


	12. Chapter 12

**Still Waters Run Deep**: Modern Day Warrior, Mean Mean Stride

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Yuuna, having been all but kicked out of her dorm room due to the incidents surrounding Akira's disappearance, had temporarily moved back home. Luckily, her home was just on the other side of town; even better, her father was there. It was a great help, but from the instant she woke up this morning, her mind had been occupied by her missing friend, and it showed.

"Yuuna, are you feeling ok?"

"I'm ok, dad. Just thinking about Akira," Yuuna replied as she poked at the food on her plate.

"I already told you, right? We have some good people working on it, Akira-chan will be fine."

"I know." Yuuna slumped in her chair, looking listlessly at her breakfast. She had been sleeping at her dad's place since Akira's disappearance, but even the warm feelings of home weren't enough to calm her down. She put down her eating utensil and stood up from the table.

"I'm not very hungry this morning…"

Her father nodded and continued to eat. Yuuna had been getting worse by the day. After the initial panic had worn off, the girl had seemed to be okay, but lately a deep worry had set in and she had become lethargic, wandering the halls or staring blankly at the television at night, wandering the town during the daytime. He had been doing a lot of thought and research about the missing girl himself, and what he found had been frightening, to say the least.

Akira had always been…'special', with unusual abilities. Since she was old enough to walk, the girl had always been drawn to water in all of its forms, from water dripping from a faucet to the stream near her childhood home. When the family had gone on a trip to the beach, little Akira-chan had been so excited that she had run straight out into the ocean, but luckily a nearby man had spotted the child and grabbed her before she got too far. Akira-chan had screamed and cried all the way home, pounding her little fists into the seats of the car and even breaking a window. When they arrived home, Akira had hit the walls, putting holes in them. She calmed down after a while when they gave her a watergun to play with (her favorite toy, strangely enough). From there, her parents realized a curious thing…Akira was a very strange child with an unusual connection with water. Little Akira-chan was almost always calm and generally happy in a quiet way; and though her rages were terrible and destructive, they were usually short lived. From time to time, however, she would do something strange enough to give even her parents reason to pause. From staring for minutes at a time at a bit of water cupped in the palm of her hand to sitting for hours in the small kiddie pool her father brought home when she was two years old, the girl always loved to be around water, touching it, splashing it.

When she reached four years of age, she scared her parents by disappearing from the bathtub when her mother wasn't looking. When she reappeared an hour or so later at the front door, she told her parents some nonsense story about going into a dark hole and seeing rats and the like. They argued about what to do about her worrying behavior until an old friend of her father's suggested Mahora. The father took some vacation time at work and off they went. At Mahora, Akira-chan underwent a battery of tests under strict conditions, and few people were made aware of the results. To the majority of the testers, she was just another test subject. To Headmaster Konoe, she was something else.

Little Okochi Akira was a so-called Elemental. A being so connected to a certain element that they might be said to be a part of it. Everyone had a resonance with a certain element, but few displayed any sort of naturally occurring control or any sort of deep connection, and only a rare few ever displayed this on the level Akira seemed to possess. Her parents were mortified, terrified, and worried for their child at the same time. This was Japan, after all, a place that put a huge premium on fitting in and not being different…the nail that sticks out will be hammered, after all. They loved their daughter of course, but the social stigma attached to such a situation would be unbearable for all of them. After a bit of wheedling by the headmaster, they agreed to leave Akira-chan in his care. He promptly sealed away her ability and any memories of it, and proceeded to have her raised as a normal child while she attended school. For the most part it seemed to have worked, though she was under constant observation and was scheduled for an appointment with a doctor twice a month. As far as she knew, it was to make sure she didn't have complications from a dangerous childhood disease, which was also used to excuse any strange memories she may dredge up accidentally, shrugging them off as side effects of the placebos they gave her as medicine.

Regardless of the mental and magical restraints put in place, Akira had slowly been regressing to her previous state, as evidenced by the incident in which she punched Max Linell, an agent and observer from the American Division, so hard that he was thrown a considerable distance and rendered unconscious for several hours, an impossible feat for any normal human, though there were many reported incidents from Hinata…that was a whole other can of worms, however.

Apparently, Akira's secret had gotten out and some group or other had decided that it would be better for Akira's power to be under their control, rather than with some unknown enemy. This was very bad, as suddenly over a dozen groups were jockeying to get their hands on Akira. Where Max Linell fit into this beyond that was a mystery. He simply seemed to be an agent from the American division, in a certain catch-all section of the research division known for its members' individual prowess in various situations. But why Max Linell of all people should kidnap her, or why the girl would allow herself to be kidnapped were questions he couldn't answer.

He had a feeling that something was being purposefully hidden from him, though. Takahata had given him a _look_ the other day. It seemed as though he was getting awfully close to stepping on someone else's toes, and he had no wish to do that. It was reassuring to know that someone as capable as Takahata was on the case, though. It meant that he could sit back and do what he did best, support the front lines from the back.

Yes, everything would be all right. If only he could convince Yuuna of that fact…

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Marlin finally called in on the fifth day, and the American Division got their confirmation. Marshall stepped up and gave the order immediately. Max Linell had gone rogue, and was to be hunted down and captured without mercy. He had in his possession the primary target Okochi Akira, who was to be captured without injury and only eliminated if capture proved impossible. The order went out at 1:30 p.m., and the last member of the team was standing at attention an hour later. After a quick flight, he was settled in at the small hotel in Mahora that would be their base of operations.

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Negi took a deep breath of clean, cool air and smiled as he surveyed his 'troops'. They stood before him here in Eva's resort, each powerful in their own way. Kaede-san, Ku-teacher, Kotaro-kun…Setsuna-san, Asuna-san, Kazumi-san…Nodoka-san, Konoka-san, Haruna-san, Yue-san…his students (mostly) and his friends. Even Takamichi would accompany them, though he wasn't here in the resort. It had taken a lot of arguing on Negi's part to get permission, but finally Takamichi had caved in and agreed to allow them to go, as long as he could supervise the search. Only Chisame-san and Chachamaru-san were missing, something about some hacker. And after all that training here in Eva's resort, they were powerful. Really, truly, powerful.

"I think you—I think we are ready. Let's go to Kyoto!" Negi declared as everyone cheered and quickly got down to the process of celebrating. He looked around at them having fun until he spotted Eva-san looking at him from the other side of the platform. She turned around and walked into a nearby building, so Negi excused himself from the celebration and followed her. He found her seated at a bar where one of Chachamaru's sisters stood, preparing a drink.

"Ah…Master?"

"What is it, boy?" Eva replied testily.

"Is something wrong? I saw you watching us, and—"

"This is a bad idea, boy. The lot of you should stay home and let the adults handle this," she said, taking a sip of the drink that was set before her by one of Chachamaru's sisters.

"What…?"

"That Max, he is some kind of sorcerer or something, I don't know. His magic is strange. It isn't the sort of orderly, predictable magic you've been trained in, and he's more than experienced enough. If you go up against him, you will lose," she said with finality, brushing off the several months' worth of training Negi's team had gone through here in her resort in the past weeks as if it had been pointless.

"But I don't understand, the books in the library always said—"

"Forget what the books said. I know they talk of sorcerers as weak beings who let emotion rule their power and rely on tricks to hide their weakness. Sorcerers are the natural enemy of mages, and for the most part they are easily defeated. But that Max, something's wrong with him." Eva sat back, looking disgusted. "He has lots of power, too much for you to handle. You're still weak and you'll be killed if you fight him, and then what will happen to your search for Nagi?" She glanced at Negi to see if her point was getting through, and was horrified to see him crying tears of joy.

"You…you really do care, Master! Everyone was wrong about you—"

"THE ONLY ONE WRONG IS YOU!" she yelled, kicking him off his chair and stepping on his head. She sat down again after a moment and straightened her hair and clothing; Negi did likewise.

"Think about it. He has survived as whatever he is while being a member of a major magical organization for many years. He is not a fool like you, and he won't be easy to defeat. You had trouble with Takahata and were beaten by Al at the tournament, you don't stand a chance."

"But the training—"

"Isn't enough," she broke in and then took another sip of wine.

"You'll all die!" Chachazero added gleefully.

33333333

Max looked out over the lake from his position on the large rock. Over the past two days, it had become his favorite spot to relax in the whole valley. Worn smooth by centuries of wind and rain, the top was perfectly shaped to offer comfort after a hard day's training. He often found himself sprawled out on top of this rock, eating lunch or watching the sunset over the lake and the western wall of the valley. Right now, however, noon was still several hours away, and he had been explaining the truth of the world to a disbelieving young Japanese schoolgirl since breakfast. She had asked a few questions at first, but as the explanation wore on she had fallen silent…a bad sign.

"There is something you must understand, Akira," Max said as he turned and slid off the rock, then approached to within a few paces of the girl. "It's true. All of it, it's all true."

Akira just looked at Max, wanting a little to believe his words, but... How was she supposed to believe this? Magic was real? Her child teacher Negi-sensei was a mage? Max-sensei himself was a mage?

"You felt it at the waterfall, right?" Max asked and waited for Akira to nod. "That was a spirit that watches over this place. The sword I had you put on that rack puts you under her protection for as long as you're here. No one can find this place as long as she's here." He paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to prove the truth of his words. "Here, look at this," he said as his hand burst into flame.

"Ah! You're on fire! Max-sensei!"

"Dammit girl, _LOOK_!" he shouted, instantly feeling like a heel for yelling at the girl. He waved his hand around and made a rope of flame dance through the air.

"I-i-it-it's a trick," Akira said, something in her very core denying even the possibility of magic being a reality. It felt odd and unnatural, but she had trouble even contemplating the concept. She wanted to believe, she truly wanted to, but something was holding her back.

Max sighed and forced himself to calm down. He had always had a quick temper, but had no wish to let it out on Akira. He quickly extinguished the flame and paced around a moment, trying to figure out how to get the girl to understand. Well, it might be better to make her understand subconsciously through training first. She seemed to have some sort of mental lock put in place…apparently someone had recognized her potential early on and sealed it away. Wonderful. Just wonderful. The girl would never be able to defend herself that way.

Changing tactics, he left her sitting by the lake and went back to the cabin. It was a very rustic, half-stone, half-wood affair; quite old, but well kept and in very good condition in spite of its age. The owners of this valley knew what they were doing, after all. He entered and took up the cloth wrapped bundle he had carried since Mahora. After a quick check of its contents, he brought it back to where he had left Akira. She was playing in the water like a child, and he couldn't help but laugh a little when he saw her.

Akira heard him and looked up, red faced. She hadn't meant for him to see her like that, but the water was just so…

…so inviting. It was so different from the swimming pools she was familiar with, it just seemed so pure and natural.

"Come over here, I've got something for you," Max called out as he unwrapped the bundle and laid out the contents. She wandered over and looked at the items. There were seven swords of varying design…she quickly recognized the greatsword he had used during the festival. In addition to that, there were a few European-style swords that she didn't know the names of, a few so odd looking she couldn't even begin to guess at where they had come from, and finally one that seemed Asian. Not that she knew anything about swords other than what she had seen on TV or in plays…but one of them seemed to call to her. A straight sword with a fairly simple hilt, but a beautiful sheath painted with blue in a wavy pattern. She started to reach for it, but hesitated.

Max grinned at her. "Go ahead."

She picked it up reverently with both hands and carefully drew the blade out a bit. The pattern on the blade was very pretty, it looked almost like waves.

"Why do you have so many?" she asked after a moment.

"I collect them; you could call it a hobby, I guess. That one's called a 'jian', I think. Go ahead, swing it around and get a feel for it."

"Is it ok?"

"Yeah. Just don't go hitting things with it until I show you how," Max said as he selected a similar looking sword of European descent. "Be careful, it's sharp."

Akira nodded. She drew the sword fully from the sheath and swung it around a few times, surprised at how light it felt. It seemed pretty short, the blade was only a little over two feet long, but it just felt _right _somehow. She felt a simple smile float over her face and beamed at Max, who looked sheepish for a moment.

"It's a present," he said after a moment, not looking at the girl. "You can keep it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Here, let me show you the right grip—"

Akira played around with the sword for a few moments before Max showed her some of the basic movements and set her to practicing them.

"Now I'm no master, but I do know the correct way to use each of these. You keep doing what I showed you for a while, then switch to the next exercise. And watch your grip too, that's vital."

After a few minutes of sword-swinging, Akira started to speak. "Max-sensei, why are you teaching this to me?"

Max, not stopping his own practice with the broadsword, answered. "It's a kind of training."

"But why a sword?"

"It's not so much training to use the sword as it is training your mind," Max answered, sheathing his sword as he walked over to the girl. Akira paused in her exercises as well.

"Think of the movement of power when you swing the sword. With a swing, the power starts with your connection to the ground, travels up your legs, through your waist and torso, down your arm and through your sword, exiting at the tip. Of course, a thrust is similar, but the movement of power is a lot sharper. Like this," he said, taking the sword from her hand and throwing what could only be called a fireball through the tip of the sword out over the lake, where it dissipated. He handed the slightly warm sword back to Akira, who looked at it wonderingly.

"I don't like to do that with fire since it could damage the blade, but…anyway, as you get better you'll realize that you don't really need a physical sword to do it," he said after a moment. "You can learn the sword, and you can learn to use your ability, but you should keep in mind that the two are separate. Currently, what I am teaching you is to use the sword as a tool rather than a weapon. If you want to learn it as a weapon as well, I can help you with that. But like I said before, I'm no master."

Akira studied the sword for a moment. "That…the fireball earlier, it wasn't just some trick, was it?"

"No. Go ahead and try it if you want." He watched as she made a few attempts, copying what she had seen him do. "Think about the flow of power I told you about," he suggested. Akira tried again, and Max couldn't help but gape.

A few water droplets had formed on the sword and were thrown forward when she did the thrust. Well, that confirmed it beyond any doubt. Not only was the girl an elemental, but she was also a prodigy. It had taken Max well over two months of practice before he was able to make even a tiny bit of flame come out through the sword. It had only taken Akira a couple tries.

This girl…she was terrifying. His heart was racing and he could feel the sweat creeping down his brow. He couldn't help the wild grin that spread over his face, either. This would be fun!

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**Author's Notes**: Yeah, like nobody saw that coming.


	13. Chapter 13

**Still Waters Run Deep**: It's Been a Long Time Since I Rock and Rolled

* * *

Yuuna had followed Honya and Yue-chan several times out into the forest on a hunch, but they had somehow managed to lose her every time. She was sure they were up to something out here, and she was curious. Luckily, this time her hunch paid off and she managed to follow them until they stopped in a small clearing. The two were holding what looked like wands from some magical girl show.

'They're a bit old to be playing with wands out in the woods, aren't they?' Yuuna asked herself, carefully ignoring her collection of toy tanks.

"This should be ok, Nodoka," Yue said.

"Are you sure?"

Yue nodded and babbled on for a few minutes about something boring, while Nodoka laid out a sheet on the ground and placed a basket on it. Yuuna watched from her hiding place as the two of them sat down.

'Eehhhh, are they having a picnic?'

"Practe Bigi Nar…Aldescat!" Yue said, waving her wand around. Yuuna watched curiously as she did it several more times, a small flame appearing at the tip of the wand each time. Nodoka started doing it too, but Yuuna had no idea why. She vaguely remembered having a similar wand as a child, only hers had a star on the end. There was a sudden flash, and she looked up. There was a mid-size flame floating above the tip of Yue's wand. 'Cool! Is it some fancy lighter?'

"You did it!" Nodoka exclaimed. "Try to make it bigger."

Yue muttered something and the flame became bigger while Yuuna watched closely from her hiding place. 'Practe Bigi Nar, huh? Aldescat?' She watched as Nodoka and Yue practiced several other tricks, her normally carefree face turning serious for once. "Practe Bigi Nar, Practe Bigi Nar…" She picked up a nearby stick and knelt down with her back against a tree.

"Practe Bigi Nar, Aldescat!" As she said the words, a weird feeling began to well up within her and shoot through the arm that held the stick. She dropped it abruptly and jumped back, smacking into the tree and bumping her head.

"H…hello? Is anyone there?"

Oh crap, they'd heard her! Yuuna wasted no time and took off running, heart racing as she tried to digest what had just happened. 'What was that? It was scary, and—' She thought hard as she ran.

"It was…kinda cool," she said aloud. She resolved to run straight home and find that wand.

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They had been in the valley for a little over a week, and Akira was progressing beautifully in Max's opinion. She had slowly opened up to the idea of magic, so he had introduced a few of the basic concepts to her, whatever he felt she was prepared to accept. He didn't want to overwhelm her with information, so he forced himself to keep it slow. So, between practice with the sword as a tool, practice with the sword as a weapon, and studying basic magic, they had little time to forage for food, and soon their meager supply of purchased goods ran out. Max showed Akira how to build a fish trap, and which plants were edible and which were not.

A few more days passed, and Akira's progress was amazing. It seemed that once she fully accepted the reality of magic, it was as though she had opened a mental floodgate. He just wished that he could send her off to Ariadne in the magic world for training, or even that he had a few of the textbooks they used to teach aspiring magi. It wouldn't do for Akira to become powerful while remaining untrained…she'd likely be labeled a sorcerer or something equally ridiculous and hunted down like a criminal.

Two days later, they had their first serious spar session.

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"Come on!" *clank* The sound of metal hitting metal echoed through the clearing, accompanied by the sounds of hard breathing and quick movement.

"S-stop, slow down…" *pant* *clank* *clank*

"You can do better than that!" Max shouted, pressing the attack, forcing Akira back. She barely managed to bring her sword up in time to block a strike that would have caused some real damage if it had connected.

"Come on, you'll break your sword with a move like that!" Max shouted in her face as he gave her a shove.

Akira fell back on her bottom and scrambled back as Max went on the attack again.

"That's not what I taught you, come on! COME ON!"

She scrambled to her feet again just in time to avoid another slash, and then her sword was knocked from her hand with a blow that left her whole arm tingling and she stumbled again. Max was still coming and she was scared and he was _right there_ and then she was screaming and it was over.

Max sheathed his sword and knelt down next to Akira, ashamed of himself for letting the fire get the best of him again. "Sorry about that, Akira," he said helplessly, putting a hesitant hand on the girl's shoulder. To his surprise, she jumped at him and clung to him with a tight hug, crying and soaking his shirt in tears.

"Don't do that again!" she sobbed into his shirt. He didn't know what else to do but pat her head and smooth down her hair until she quieted. He pulled a leaf out of her ponytail as he muttered nonsense to her. Their position was a bit uncomfortable, and he usually shied away from situations like this, but there was no choice. He had brought it on himself, after all.

Looking out over the small lake, he thought back for a moment about the time they had spent here so far. This had been their first serious spar, and Max had unfortunately let himself go. And, what with fire being inferior to water, his survival instincts had screamed 'kill or be killed'. As he usually trusted his instincts, it was pretty hard to hold back when he was sparring with Akira. Her power was tremendous, terrifying. If he was dangerous like a rattlesnake, she was dangerous like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, totally out of his league in every way imaginable…if she could learn to take hold of her power. He had the feeling that she could crush him like a bug if she so chose, and it was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. 'Huh, maybe those quacks back at HQ were right,' he thought.

"What?" Akira asked, no longer crying but still clinging to him as he shifted his position slightly. He must have said it aloud.

"Just thinking about something a doctor back home said a long time ago." Max shifted to a more comfortable position and then continued. "He told me that for us elementals, our element represents our deepest selves, and that our reactions could be predicted based on whatever our element was. Of course I told him he was full of it," Max grunted a laugh and Akira snuggled closer at the throaty sound. "But I guess, now that I look back at it, I guess he was right, a little."

"What did he say about water?" she asked as she shifted her weight, forcing Max to shift to a more comfortable position as well.

"Usually calm, relaxed, protective, possessive, all that sort of thing. Slow to anger, but ridiculously dangerous when you really get mad." He looked over at her and shallow gray eyes met deep, deep brown. Somehow, he had ended up lying flat on his back on the grass, and Akira was laying half on top of him...he must have accidentally pulled her down when he switched positions before. His heart started to beat faster.

"What about fire?" she asked in a quiet voice.

He cleared his throat. "Wild, uncontrollable. Prone to wild outbursts that burn themselves out quickly." He cleared his throat again. "Er…passionate…"

_He felt her leg move._

And then he was completely aware of Her, everything about her. The smoothness of her skin, her silky hair, the clean, natural scent of it mixed with the sweat from their spar earlier. He felt the tense and fearful, yet immensely curious movements and warmth of her body and then before he could stop himself, he mentally asked himself that damning question: What if…?

Her breasts pushing on his chest and side, her arms wrapped tightly around him, her legs tangled in his own… 'My God, we're halfway there already…'

Her heartbeat.

And he wanted her, he needed her. And her eyes… 'Oh God, her _eyes...!_' Her lips parted slightly as she started to say something, and then his arms were tight around her and she squeaked, and with one quick motion he pulled her up and their lips met in an instant that seemed to last twenty years. She looked as shocked as he felt, and then he heaved her off and they were instantly apart, backing far away from each other, both reduced to doe-eyed children.

"L-like I said. Prone to wild outbursts," he said after a moment, attempting to laugh off what had just happened and refusing to meet her eyes. She didn't reply, and when he finally shot a quick glance at her, she was looking off to the right at the lake, two fingers lightly touching her lips.

"I'll go start lunch," he said after a moment and quickly left.

Akira watched him leave and gazed off into space. Her first kiss…why had she been acting like that? This wasn't like her at all, Max-sensei was a lot older than she was, and that sort of student-teacher relationship was frowned upon. She touched her lips again. It had been really soft…she hadn't known what to expect, but a simple kiss like that, not even a deep kiss, was definitely not it. She had always thought Max-sensei would be a rough kisser, the type to plunder her lips and—she shied away from that train of thought quickly.

Why had she climbed on top of him anyway? That was completely unlike her as well. True, he had been hugging her when he leaned back a bit, but it was more of a consoling hug than anything se— anything like a boyfriend would do. She had been the one to pull him all the way to the ground. What had she been thinking? Max-sensei himself had said that fire people were passionate and prone to action without thought. Had she actually _wanted…_

He had been warm.

She shook her head to clear it. She was starting to think like Haruna!

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"That was bad, that was really bad," Max told himself as he collected firewood. "She's practically half my age! What am I thinking?" He sighed and leaned against a tree, wiping sweat from his eyes. "I'm thinking what any man in this situation would be thinking, that's what. Problem is I acted on it. Now things are going to be very awkward for a while." He continued berating himself for the rest of the day and avoided Akira as best he could while trying to work out how to avoid situations like what had happened earlier. But try as he might, he couldn't avoid sparring with Akira, it was necessary if he wanted her to be able to survive on her own some day. And things tended to happen in a spar session. Sometimes your hand ended up touching…or your arm brushed against… That sort of thing was unavoidable! All involved parties usually ignored that sort of thing as a basic part of sportsmanship

But still, she had been so soft…

"I've got to make it up to her somehow," he said aloud.

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That night, the two sat awkwardly in the small cabin, neither knowing where to look as they attempted small talk.

Eventually, Akira blurted out a question that had been on her mind for quite some time. "Max-sensei, why did you bring me here?"

Max poured himself a cup of the strong coffee that he liked so much. "Because it's safe here," he said, not meeting her eyes.

"That's not what I mean. Why did you take me away from Mahora?"

Max sighed. He had known this was coming, and was dreading it. He just hoped she wouldn't ask about the…'incident'.

"Well…to be honest, when I saw you, your situation reminded me of someone I knew as a kid. He had a gift, just like yours. We always, always fought each other. I always won though," he said, smiling slightly at the memory as he leaned against the wall. "Anyway, his ability manifested in a very public way, and they took him away."

"What do you mean?"

"He came by his power naturally, like you." He paused for a moment. "And me. Naturally, rather than through intensive study in the traditional way. To the mages, that made him dangerous. They don't like anyone to achieve power too easily, something about not having the strength of mind and control built by long years of study, or something like that." He paused and took a sip of coffee. "Anyway, a gang of punks cornered him one day, and he used his power to blow them all away. Then he lost control and his power went wild. He ended up causing a big chain reaction of storms and tornados and lots of people died. The mages came and took him away."

Akira waited expectantly. "And what happened then?"

Max frowned. "They experimented on him, I think. Implanted things in him to improve his control. He's not the kid he was anymore…His control is perfect, too perfect. He's doesn't care about anything anymore but his power and his orders. He does what they tell him to do, and that's that." He blew out the lamp and plopped down on his sleeping bag on his side of the short dividing curtain that separated the back half of the cabin and lay back, muttering something.

Sleeping in the same room as a man, _this_ man with nothing but a six-foot curtain between them had worried/excited Akira for the first few nights, but she had quickly gotten used to it until what had happened earlier today brought those wild feelings to the fore again…she just wanted to touch him. As she lay down in her sleeping bag, she wondered sleepily what would happen if he came over to her side of the curtain, and then, quite deviously, what might happen if she went over to his side.

"What?" She thought she heard him say something.

"…I said, I don't think I could bear to see you like that," Max replied after a moment, his deep voice drifting over from the other side of the curtain.

"So it is as I thought." Both Max and Akira shot to their feet at the intruder's voice, both coming up fluidly with their weapons ready. Somehow the woman had opened the door of the one room cabin without either of them realizing, maybe even in the utter darkness just after Max blew out the oil lamp. When Akira realized she was pointing her sword at the woman, she almost dropped it in surprise.

She heard Max's gruff voice on the other side of the curtain, harsh and dangerous, so unlike the way he had been since arriving in the valley.

"Who are you? How did you know about this place?"

"I could ask you the same thing," the mystery woman replied, looking at the darkness where Akira and Max stood. "This place is known only to the Shinmeiryuu, outsiders are not welcome."

"You're Shinmeiryuu?" Max's voice was calmer now, more curious.

"Indeed. And you are?"

"I am Max Linell, it is a pleasure to meet another one of the Shinmeiryuu," he replied as he sheathed his sword and stepped past the end of the curtain, where Akira could see his silhouette moving in the dark room. She was a bit hesitant since she was wearing her nightclothes (a loose T-shirt and shorts), but followed his example and sheathed her weapon and slung the sheath on its strap over her back the way Max had shown her. She waited silently as Max fumbled for the lamp, and gave a quick gasp when he lit it. The young woman standing before them looked shockingly like Akira, only older and with much shorter hair. They were even roughly the same height. She hadn't known what to expect, but a doppelganger in traditional clothing sure wasn't it. She quickly realized that Max was staring, and the woman herself looked a bit startled.

"So, would you like some coffee?" Max offered as he collected himself, attempting to break the ice.

"Ah…ah, yes. Thank you," the woman replied, a bit shaken at finding another girl that looked just like her. She barely managed to hold back a grimace when she tasted the coffee, but forced the rest of the cup down. Akira smiled a bit…the coffee Max made was very strong.

"Now that we are comfortable, perhaps I should introduce myself properly. I am Aoyama Motoko, heir of the Shinmeiryuu."

"I am Max Linell, a mage of the…formerly a mage of the American Division." He glanced at Akira, and she realized it was her turn.

"I am Okochi Akira, a student in Mahora."

"So…" Max said after a moment. "Are you related to Tsuruko?"

"Yes, she is my older sister. How is it that you know of her?"

Max gave a half hearted grin that came across as a half-frown. "Looks like this is a night for old stories."

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Six years ago…

Max had been chasing his target, a member of a violent anti-western magic group. He had tracked the member to a house deep in the mountains near Kyoto, and unwittingly stumbled into an ambush and was captured. The group brought him to a safe house where one of the men in charge of the group could decide what to do with him. He was led to a massive underground complex, stripped of his weapons, fitted with an anti-magic device around his neck, and put into a cell.

When Max awakened the next day, he discovered that there was another prisoner across the hall from him. Sitting in a meditative pose, she was full of elegance and beauty, perfectly composed even in a situation like this.

She had his attention immediately. Max had been badly beaten earlier and could barely move, so he simply lay there and stared at her. She seemed like an angel, and when she suddenly spoke to him, he was so surprised that he went into a coughing fit and spit up a bit of blood.

They talked, since that was all there was to do in a situation like this, and she introduced herself as Aoyama Tsuruko. She had been here on a 'diplomatic mission' (Disband your group now, or there will be consequences.), but the leaders had been unreceptive and locked her in a cell. She explained that while she could have fought them, there would be casualties if she did, and that was something she wished to avoid for her sister's sake if possible. Max told her about his mission, and she nodded. The Shinmeiryuu were quite powerful, and were knowledgeable about such things. They had been aware of his mission.

The guards came and took him away to be beaten or questioned several times over the next few days, but he never told them what they wanted. After one particularly bad beating, Tsuruko had looked at him measuringly.

"Why don't you tell them what they want to know?"

"I don't know what they want to know," he had answered truthfully. "Besides, I'm not so sure I would tell them even if I did. Bastards." He had practically spat the last word, and the ghost of a smile crossed Tsuruko's lips.

A few days later, when Max had recovered enough to pace around his cell, Tsuruko told him to get ready. He looked over at her, confused, and saw her strike the back of the lock on her cell door and heard a snap. She pushed open her door, then walked over and did the same thing to his.

"You could have gotten out at any time," he said, looking at her curiously.

"Yes. But I couldn't leave them with prisoners, could I? You seem to have recovered sufficiently. Now, let's go." He felt a shiver of fear as he saw the look on her face, but followed anyway. It was when they reached the guardroom that he found out just what the woman before him was made of. While he was reduced to clumsy fist fighting with no weapons and his magic sealed, she did just fine with her bare hands, disabling five guards in the time it took him to beat one senseless. They found their things in a large safe, and with a casual wave of her blade, Tsuruko chopped off the anti-magic collar on Max's neck.

They had then proceeded to burn the place down, both figuratively and literally.

Max, exhausted and badly injured by the end, would likely have died if Tsuruko hadn't taken him to the valley they were now in and nursed him back to health.

66666666

"So you see, it's thanks to Tsuruko that I'm alive now," Max finished. Motoko nodded, entranced by the story of her sister's prowess. Akira was just dumbstruck.

"And I trust she told you about the shrine?" Motoko asked

Max nodded. "The spirit too, and the sword rack. I owe her my life. So, how is she doing now?"

Motoko suddenly had a weird, half-gloomy expression that just screamed 'too well!', so Max dropped the question.

"She said that if I had need, I could escape here and would be safe for as long as I stayed," Max said.

Motoko nodded. "The kami that watches over this valley is incredibly strong, and has protected it for centuries." She didn't ask 'Why are you here?', but the question was obvious.

"Something happened at HQ." Max looked over at Akira. "She's an elemental, like me," he said.

Akira saw Motoko's eyes widen a fraction of an inch, then narrow dangerously.

"They say that elementals are dangerous," Motoko said, her voice too cool for comfort.

"They say the same thing about the Shinmeiryuu," Max answered in the same tone. Akira looked back and forth between the two until Motoko sighed and relaxed, a small smile drifting into place.

"It is true," she said. "We are dangerous." Max offered her another cup of coffee, but she declined, a bit too quickly. "I understand you are training her?"

"Yeah," Max answered. "I want her to be able to defend herself if something happens to me, and I'm trying to train her in some basic magic, so she can pass herself off as a mage-in-training if she is captured, rather than an elemental or sorcerer or something else that could get her in trouble."

Max dumped a pile of sugar into a small cup of coffee and passed it to Akira, who took it with a thoughtful expression as she absorbed the details of the story. This was all interesting, but who was this woman anyway, and why was she here?

"I have come to continue my training," Motoko said after a moment of silence, while Max and Akira sipped their coffee. Akira almost gagged on all the sugar, and Max grinned a bit while Motoko looked amused in spite of herself.

"Training?"

"I feel I have been too long away from my training, so I came back here hoping to freshen up my skills."

"Is it ok that we're here? I mean, I don't want to interrupt your training…" Max said.

"Yes. It is always good to have another person to spar against. 'One battle is more educational than a year of training', as my sister was fond of saying." She stifled a yawn and approached Akira's side of the curtain. "If you don't mind, I believe I shall sleep here," she said, beginning to lay out a futon next to Akira's sleeping bag. Akira nodded at her.

Max blew out the lamp again, and soon enough everyone was asleep but Akira, who stared blankly up at the dark ceiling. Motoko had a sense of elegance that was amazing in Akira's eyes…but she had the feeling that Motoko could strike as quickly as a snake as well, if she wanted. She was a beautiful, terrifying woman, and Akira found herself entranced. She soon fell asleep, wondering what tomorrow's training would bring.

77777777

Meanwhile, in the Akashi house in Mahora…

"Practe Bigi Nar, Aldescat!" Yuuna shouted as the end of her wand flared brightly. Curious, she wondered how big she could make the flame, and tried again. "Practe Bigi Nar, Aldescat!" This time, a full-blown fireball appeared, leaving the room smoky and slightly singed. Yuuna quickly opened a window to let the smoke out before the fire alarms sounded. 'It's working! Cool! Maybe I'm some kind of esper or something? This is so cool, I can definitely track down Max and save Akira with this!'

88888888

Marlin pushed open the door to the hotel room and entered. He glanced at where Nil was working with the magic circle Max had made on the wall when he first arrived, and plodded over to the couch, where he sat down stiffly. He was still sore from the beating he had taken from Max and Akira, and barely suppressed a grunt as he moved to a more comfortable position. The door opened again to reveal another man of average height, wearing a long coat even in this heavy summer heat.

"So, what have you found, Nil?" The man in the coat asked. He was the mage Arvel, who had arrived just the day before; he was their third man, the final member of the team.

"The academy and the whole town are overflowing with magic-users, many different types from all over the world. And if I'm reading this right, it even looks like the Dark Evangel is here," the hacker said. He had had a lot of trouble getting access to anything via computer…he had burned out several high-end laptops and desktop computers before deciding he needed something serious. It was currently being shipped from HQ.

"There seems to be an unusual congregation of magic-users in this kid Negi's class," Nil said. He was capable with more than just computers, but all this surreptitious magic scanning nonsense annoyed him greatly and took a lot more time than hacking. Plus it left them more open to discovery by those being scanned, especially if they were skilled mages. They were just lucky that Max hadn't had time to remove those scanning circles he had placed around Mahora before his hasty departure. He glanced up at the mage who had asked the question and saw the excitement in his eyes.

"The Dark Evangel, huh," Arvel said. "I knew she wasn't dead! I'd really like to run into her," he said, his hands working.

Nil looked back down at the energy readings. "Don't even think about it, Arvel. Not while we're on a mission. Get yourself killed on your own time, I won't have you revealing our presence because you want to fight." Technically, Marlin was the leader of the group, but since Nil had a better head for strategy, the more important aspects were often left to him. And having their sole source of firepower obliterated by a bored, if legendary, vampire would definitely cause problems, even if he couldn't stand the younger man's presence.

Arvel hmphed and walked to the door, his good mood at the news soured. "I'm going out. See you later."

Nil gave a careless wave as the other man left and glanced over at Marlin, who lay dozing on the couch. "You're lucky the boss didn't skin you alive though the phone, Marlin. What the hell was that? What were you thinking, letting yourself get beaten up like that?"

Marlin took off his ever-present sunglasses and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know. I've been having feelings of nostalgia lately…I don't think I'll be up for this next fight."

That wasn't good. Marlin was showing signs of burning out, and Nil didn't want to lose another friend. Maybe he could pull some strings and have the other man transferred to a desk job or something back at HQ until he was back on his feet again. It couldn't hurt, so he made a mental note to look into that later. "Guess what, Marlin?"

"What is it, Nil?" the other man answered, sounding distracted. He had complained of terrible headaches for days, and only the strongest painkillers seemed to have any effect. He was lucky to not have a fractured skull, the way that girl had hit him with that trophy...

"From the readings taken over the past few days, someone has been following that Negi kid's posse and watching them training, then goes to this house on the other side of town and practices alone. I wonder if they know about that?" he asked rhetorically. He found all this minutiae to be incredibly interesting, but sometimes forgot that Marlin didn't really care about that sort of thing. "Just look at this flare yesterday. Chances are the kid's really powerful, you know? I wonder if we should report her to HQ?" Marlin mumbled something that Nilren couldn't hear and rolled over on the couch, trying to get a quick nap.

"This looks like it will be interesting!" Nil exclaimed as he his grin widened.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Er…yeah. What the hell, Max? Come on, you're a bit too old for that. Also, some familiar faces appear. I always liked Motoko, and this fic occurs after the haircutting incident in Love Hina. As for Yuuna, I got the feeling from the manga that she had prior experience with magic as a young child (she even had a wand!) and would thus only be relearning what she had known a long time before, making it much easier than what the others had to go through.


	14. Chapter 14

**Still Waters Run Deep**: Communication Breakdown

* * *

"We're on the Shinkansen again! Weeee!" Konoka said, running through the aisle with her arms out to the sides.

"O-ojou-sama!"

"Konoka! Stop that, it's dangerous!"

"Ahahahaha!"

11111111

It was already the second half of summer vacation, but they were finally on the Shinkansen, heading to Kyoto. Everything had not gone as planned, however. First of all, Takamichi had approached them as they left the dorm and given them _a look_. The implications were obvious. If they caused any trouble in the search for Akira, they would be on the first train back to Mahora in no time.

"Oh Negi-sensei, if you feel tired, feel free to use my lap as a pillow~" Ayaka said, all but climbing into Negi's seat from across the aisle.

"No fair, Iincho! I was here first!" Makie yelled from the seat behind him as she hung over the back of Negi's seat, arms around his neck possessively..

Negi sighed. And then there was the other problem. Somehow, Iincho-san had found out about their rescue mission to Kyoto and brought along half the class, on the grounds that she could vacation wherever she wanted.

"Quit hanging all over Negi, you shota-con! And you too, Makie, you're almost as bad as Iincho!"

"What?" Ayaka exclaimed. "Odd to hear something like that from you, Asuna! Why don't you go and bother Takahata-sensei?"

"What?"

Yes, all hopes for a peaceful trip had been shattered.

If he had been any younger, Negi might have curled into a ball and cried.

22222222

Motoko and Max walked along the edge of the lake during a rare simultaneous break in training. Akira had made stunning progress since Motoko arrived, and neither one of them really knew what to do about it.

"She has amazing potential," Motoko said after a moment.

"Mm-hmm." They both looked back at where Akira stood knee deep in the waters of the lake.

Akira was building a pillar of water, trying to see, at Max's behest, how tall she could make it. It was currently well over twenty feet tall and only trembling slightly.

Akira lost her concentration for a moment and the whole thing slumped back down into the lake with a small splash. She looked down at the place it had collapsed with mild annoyance…it had taken a lot of effort to make it that high, after all. She settled for making long snakes of water and playing with them instead. Already she had found that more natural, organic forms were easiest; other than that, her repertoire included giant waves, blobs of water that could be thrown like snowballs, and an ability to cram a lot of water together into a very small space, making it dense enough to set rocks and things on without having them sink. This was also how she managed the water blobs, though they were more of a jelly-like consistency.

In any case, she was incredibly curious about what else she could manage, so she kept experimenting. Just this morning, in fact, she had managed to make a very steep wave almost ten feet high. She had been able to send it a good thirty feet inland from the lake, and was delighted.

Max and Motoko stopped walking and stood side by side, watching Akira manipulate the water from the lake. She had discovered that she could by accident several days before when she attempted to playfully splash Max when he had been lecturing her on sword forms. When Max regained consciousness, they had begun experimenting, and the sheer volume of water Akira could move was astounding. Even Motoko made it a point to take a break from training now and then to watch. It wasn't every day you saw a water elemental at play, after all.

"There's no telling what else she can do," Max said to Motoko.

"What do you mean?" the swordswoman asked.

"She can manipulate water to a tremendous degree already, but I'm talking about the more difficult aspects. Actually creating water rather than just manipulating it-" he created a flame above his hand as an example "-or using it in combination with other elements. And then, some elementals can use naturally occurring instances of their element as a transportation medium. For example, wind elementals can sometimes become a gust of wind, moving around at will. While fire elementals like me can't for obvious reasons, I would imagine that water elementals can do the same thing fairly easily. Of course the problem with that is the possibility of losing yourself in the element. It happens occasionally with an intensely gifted elemental without the proper training, from what I hear. They're so at home in the element that they lose their sense of self, and that's that."

Motoko nodded. "It is the same when a swordsman becomes too absorbed in the sword and loses himself. Often they become murderers, seeking only to use their skills, forgetting about everything else that goes along with learning the sword. It is as though they become a different entity."

Max remained silent, watching as Akira playfully chased a bird with a water-snake.

"To be honest, she scares me," Max said after a moment. Motoko looked at him and nodded.

"I know what you mean. She could destroy Kyoto in a day with this level of power, it is quite terrifying." Motoko fixed Max with a stare, which he returned. "If something were to happen, the Shinmeiryuu would be forced to act."

Max looked down at the fierce woman; she was tall for a Japanese person. "That's what the training's for. She's a good kid, she won't hurt anyone intentionally. This training will make sure she doesn't hurt anyone unintentionally either."

Motoko nodded, satisfied. Max seemed to know what he was doing, so there was really nothing for it but to trust him. Akira though…the girl's abilities were mind blowing. Freely manipulating water and molding it like clay? Channeling water with a sword with the same ease as the Shinmeiryuu did with ki? Not too long ago, she might have considered the very thought preposterous, but the world had a way of twisting your beliefs when you weren't paying attention.

'Isn't _that_ the truth,' she thought, recalling a certain boy with glasses back home.

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Arvel stomped into the hotel room, looking even more disgruntled than usual.

"Well hello, beautiful, nice to see you too," Nil deadpanned as the mage slammed the door. He was trying to put together the super-high end machine HQ had sent. It was quite a complicated process, many things had to be changed to work correctly with the local networks and power sources and whatnot. He also had some new parts he wanted to try out before going up against whoever was protecting the Mahora networks…it was quickly becoming a personal challenge to him, and he wanted to give it his best.

"Shut up and die," Arvel growled back at him. He dropped down on the couch next to Marlin and glowered.

Marlin glanced at the younger man. They were all used to Arvel's 'moods', and it was usually simpler just to ignore them until they went away on their own.

"Find anything?"

The mage heaved an irritated sigh and took out a small notebook with a large bullet hole through the center. "They've got snipers, that's what I found out." Marlin took the notebook and looked at the hole thoughtfully.

"Looks like a big bullet," he said.

Nil looked up and gave a whistle. "Put a couple holes in the tail of your badass longcoat too, by the looks of it," he said appreciatively.

"What?" Arvel pulled off the coat and cursed loudly as he examined it. "Do you have any idea how much a coat like this costs? Leather is expensive, you know? HQ had better reimburse me for this," he said.

"Good luck with that," Nil said offhandedly as he popped one metal case shut and opened another. "Better see if you can get that fixed, you don't want to go around looking like a hobo or something," he muttered.

Arvel nodded thoughtfully and exited the room.

The two men waited for the door to shut and the mage's footsteps to disappear, and then burst into laughter.

"'Badass longcoat'? Where did you ever come up with anything so ridiculous?" Marlin asked, laughing for the first time since Nil had arrived in Japan. Nil was glad to see it, the other man had become very morose over the past week or so.

"Read about it on the internet somewhere," he said and grinned. "Anyway, how long do you think Arvel's gonna hang on to that thing? He can't pull off that look at all."

Marlin snorted.

44444444

While their first trip to Kyoto had been rather chaotic, what with the crazy monkey woman and all, the tone of this trip was more subdued. Even Makie and Iincho seemed to have picked up the general vibe by the time they were halfway to Kyoto. A steady rain had sprung up some time ago, and the train car was mostly silent, with over half the class dozing. Once in a while someone muttered something in their sleep, but overall there was little noise other than the train itself.

Negi was thankful for the silence, but couldn't help but feel a little down. Their last trip to Kyoto had been more for fun, this time was much more serious. They would have to rescue a friend and possibly take down a colleague…it was quite stressful for a ten year old. He couldn't understand what would have possessed his friend Max-san to do such a thing, the big American had seemed like a nice guy after one got past his looks. Negi turned around in his seat and looked back at where Takamichi sat, some distance back on the other row. The older man was always so calm and cool, Negi wished he could be like that some day.

*bonk*

"Owww!" Negi whined, looking up at Asuna with tear filled eyes as he rubbed his head.

"You worry too much, Negi," Asuna said, ruffling his hair.

"Awawa," he replied as he rubbed the spot where Asuna's fist had connected with his head.

"Don't worry about it. We'll find Max-sensei and take back Akira-chan, and then everything will be back to normal, you'll see," the red head said, her tone decidedly upbeat.

Negi looked at the girl worriedly. He knew she had been as hurt and confused as he had when Max took Akira away; the two had become fairly close before the incident, and Asuna had felt like it was a betrayal.

"Mm-hmm!" Konoka said as she leaned over the seat back in front of him and smiled. She had taken the whole incident much better than Asuna had, but whether that was due to dislike of Max-san or something else, Negi didn't know.

"She is a fellow classmate, it is our duty," Setsuna spoke up from her place beside Konoka. He could only see the top of her head above the back of her seat.

"Nin, Nin!" Kaede said from across the aisle, on the other side of Iincho's sleeping, drooling form.

The others nodded.

Negi looked around at his students and friends and felt an absurd feeling of pride; he stood up, clutching one hand into a determined fist. "All right, thank you Asuna-san, everyone! Let's go to Kyoto!"

"…we're already here, the train pulled into the station three minutes ago. Please take your belongings and get off the train, please," a rather frazzled looking attendant said.

"Eh heh…heh."

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The students departed from the train in a wild flood of teenage girl; the excitement in the air was almost palpable. Negi gently detached himself from Makie and Iincho and straightened his suit as he looked around. The sun was shining brightly, it seemed that the rainstorm the train had passed through earlier had missed this area of Kyoto, at least.

"Wah! Kyotoooo!"

"I want to see the Kiyomizu Temple!" someone squealed.

"We saw that the last time."

"Haha, I bet Yuuna will jump off the Kiyomizu Stage this time!"

"No way!" Yuuna said.

Ayaka saw her chance as the others were distracted and quickly approached her teacher. "Negi-sensei, come with me to get our love fortunes!"

"I'm sorry, Iincho-san. I don't have time to play, I have business to attend to today," Negi said, looking apologetic. The resultant look on Ayaka's face was positively heartbroken. "Ah, don't worry! I'll have time to play before we leave!" Negi explained, trying to reassure the girl.

"But Negi-sensei, I've been planning—"

"Sorry Iincho, no time," Asuna said as she cut in and took Negi's hand. "Negi has somewhere to be, see you later!"

Ayaka was left among the milling tourists on the train platform, wondering what had just happened.

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When they finally lost all their pursuers, Negi stopped the group, which had quickly increased in size as the others slipped away from their classmates to join Negi.

"Wait, everyone. Master gave me something for all of you before we left, she said I should give them to everyone once we got to Kyoto," Negi explained when they had all gathered together in a handy alleyway. He pulled out a small bag and emptied the contents into his hand and held them out so everyone could see.

"Go ahead, there's one for everyone."

Konoka picked one up. "Oooh, it's like a white wing. How cute!" Setsuna's face turned red at that.

"So what's this for, Negi?" Asuna asked as she inspected hers.

"Master said that these are a symbol of your place in the group. The words on it, Ala Alba, mean 'White Wing', in reference to my father's group, Ala Rubra, or 'Crimson Wing'."

"W-white wing…" Setsuna muttered.

"Cool."

"Here, Secchan, let me help you," Konoka said as she grabbed the spluttering Setsuna and tried to pin the badge on her shirt.

Soon enough the badges were all handed out and Negi decided that that was enough foolishness for now.

"Anyway, let's go to Konoka-san's home, we don't have any time to waste," Negi said with determination. "It's time to figure out where Max-san took Akira-san!"

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Yeah, not much happened in this chapter, sorry about that. We're getting closer to the climax!

Shinkansen = The train everyone rode when they were on the Kyoto Class Trip.


	15. Chapter 15

**Still Waters Run Deep**: Spent My Days with a Woman Unkind

* * *

A thin, pale man with silver hair sat drinking coffee at a table in the center of the sterile looking room. It was what was commonly known as an interrogation room, but that made no difference to him. He had done some of his best work in this room, and was quite comfortable taking his breakfast here. The door opened abruptly and a man that must have weighed three-fifty entered with a folder and a clipboard.

"Hello, Guy. These are your new orders," he said, tossing the sealed folder to the other man, who opened it and began reading.

"What's this about?"

"Max Linell went rogue, and the team we sent can't seem to find him."

A sickly grin spread across the pale man's face upon hearing that. "Max Linell, is it? Fine, I'll do it."

"Here, I have to witness you sign these or nothing can happen," the big man said.

Guy put down his cup of coffee and took up the pen, scrawling his name where the other man indicated. He carefully set the pen down when he was finished. "So, when do I leave?"

"'We'. When do _we_ leave," the fat man said. Guy looked at him oddly. "I'm going too, I can't have you running wild over Japan, Guy. Besides, I want the water elemental. Alive if possible."

The thin man nodded. "Are you sure that's wise?" He dropped the question at the look the other man gave him. He didn't like the fat man, but he was still his boss and he was expected to show a least a little respect. "When can you be ready?"

"Tomorrow morning, I have to finish setting things up here for an extended absence. You?"

"I can be ready at any time," Guy replied.

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Max sat back, watching as Motoko and Akira sparred. It was really something to see, he decided. His old friends back at HQ would've loved to see this. Water tentacles, ki attacks, and all manner of things were flying all over, and it looked like the both of them were having the time of their lives. Motoko had a wicked grin spread across her face, and a simple smile graced Akira's features. It was as if the two were dancing.

Akira was good, but Motoko was truly a master and it showed in every movement, every attack. 'Setsuna should end up like her some day,' he thought to himself as he watched. He had an urge to jump in himself, but that would be unthinkable, something along the lines of putting a hole in the Mona Lisa or setting fire to an original Boss 429 Mustang…it was the sort of thing you _just don't do._

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Negi and his group had been at the Konoe estate for several days, and Eishun had given them all the resources he could allow for their search. Back at Mahora, they already ruled out the idea that Max and Akira had left the country due to various magical tracking procedures and the information network Takahata had at his disposal, and now at Eishun's place they had heard rumors of a suspicious foreigner traveling with a pretty Japanese girl some time ago. An interview with the truck driver who had seen them last confirmed that the duo had come to this area with a story about visiting relatives outside of Kyoto.

Consulting with Eishun with the new information had narrowed their location down to places undetectable by magic near Kyoto. Surprisingly, there were many places like this, but which ones did Max know of, and which of those would he have access too?

It was only by a slim chance that Tsuruko visited on business two days later. Eishun mentioned something about Negi's project to her, and she recalled Max's name. Negi was itching to leave almost before Tsuruko's story was over, but the woman quickly put an end to that.

"Only those personally invited by the Shinmeiryuu may go, and it would be for the best if the number is kept small," she said. She looked the group over for a moment. "Negi-kun. Kagurazaka Asuna. Ojou-sama. And you, Setsuna-han." Setsuna squeaked from where she was hiding behind Konoka. "You four will come with me. Everyone else stays. Ermine-san may come as well, I suppose," she added after a moment. "Eishun-sama, please give each of them an offering for the sword shrine."

"Understood. The rest of you needn't worry, your friends will be in good hands. If anyone can get your friend back, it is Tsuruko-san," Eishun said to the other members of Ala Alba as he ushered them back to the common room, Kotarou grumbling at being left out. "Asuna, Negi, Konoka, come with me. I'm sure Setsuna-kun has things she would like to discuss with Tsuruko-san."

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When they were alone, Setsuna knelt, trembling, before Tsuruko. "Tsu-tsu-tsu-Tsuruko-sama!"

Tsuruko sat placidly drinking a cup of tea, her long hair thrown over one shoulder. "Yes, Setsuna-han?"

Setsuna stared blankly. She didn't have anything to talk about!

"How is Konoka-han doing?" Tsuruko said, her face totally innocent.

"Fine! She's fine!" 'Geh! I can't think of anything to say!'

"That's wonderful, oh ho ho! It is good to hear you are doing are a fine job. You _are_ doing a fine job, correct?"

_That look._ "Y-yes!"

"That is nice." She took another sip of tea.

'Graahhh!'

44444444

Eishun lead Negi, Asuna, and Konoka to a room filled to the brim with weapons of various types. Polearms and swords were everywhere, though more uncommon sorts of weapons were present as well if one cared to look. "Feel free to look around. You may each take one sword. When you get to the valley, you are to visit the shrine there and place it as an offering. When the time comes to leave, you can retrieve the sword on your way out of the valley."

"Which one should I choose?" Asuna asked, not sure what to do in the presence of so much antique weaponry.

"Any of them is fine, but do be careful. Some of these weapons are almost a thousand years old," he said. "Now I will leave you to your choices. When you are done, Konoka knows where to find me," he said, a friendly smile on his face as he exited the room.

"Oooh, I like this one," Konoka said, picking a prettily decorated sword with an odd, heart shaped tsuba. Negi chose a more traditional sword, and Asuna chose one that looked a lot like Yuunagi, Setsuna's sword. They grabbed a random Tanto from the corner for Kamo-kun and were lead to another room where Eishun sat, sipping some tea.

"Oh, those are your choices? Interesting," Eishun said. Asuna felt like she had embarrassed herself somehow, and stood a bit behind Negi. At that moment, another door opened and Tsuruko entered with Setsuna following sheepishly.

"Secchan!" Konoka exclaimed as she rushed over and grabbed Setsuna's arm.

"Konoka-Ojou-sama!"

Tsuruko smiled down at Negi, who looked up at her so seriously. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, we are ready. Um…Eishun-san?"

"Don't worry, I'll keep the others from following when you leave. Now, I have some business to take care of. Have fun, Tsuruko-san, everyone" he said with a smile as he exited.

"See, Secchan? Isn't this sword so cute? Daddy said it was for a shrine offering, but we'll take them back again at the end," Konoka said.

Setsuna took the sword and looked it over. "It is a good sword," she said after a moment. Truly a very well made sword, very elegant, just the thing for a wealthy princess to carry. Curiosity compelled her to examine the others as well. Negi's choice was an old, powerful sword with a strong, good spirit sleeping inside. A fine weapon that was meant to be used, with none of the elegant decoration present on Konoka's choice. It was a fitting choice for the boy, she thought. She almost choked when she saw Asuna's choice. It looked almost exactly like Yuunagi, but the sheath was made of a very dark wood. She recognized the sword well, one of several containing sealed evil spirits which had been in the possession of the Konoe family for generations. If anyone could control such a thing, it would be Asuna with her unique abilities. She marveled for a moment at how well the three had chosen until Tsuruko discreetly cleared her throat.

"We will leave tomorrow at first light," she said.

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"Max-san, I have a question," Motoko asked during a break from training. It had been almost unbearably hot in the valley this morning, and would most likely remain that way the whole day, so all three of them had already taken several breaks to avoid heat stroke, and Max had finally been forced to shed his ever-present light jacket, cursing at the necessity. He caught Motoko looking at an ugly, ragged scar that stretched halfway down his forearm and changed his position to hide it from view.

"Ok, shoot," Max said before raising a water bottle to his lips.

"You and Akira-san…are you together?"

Max choked on his water, spluttering helplessly for a moment until he got himself back under control. "No, why would you ask something like that?"

A knowing smile crept across Motoko's face and she climbed up on the rock Max was sitting on. He quickly shifted position again to hide another scar on his other arm, cursing under his breath. She commandeered one of his water bottles and a sandwich and made herself comfortable while Max waited for her to continue. He glanced at her and was suddenly vastly aware of her closeness and her femininity, in spite of the sheen of sweat on her skin. She looked just like an older version of Akira. 'Damnit no, not again.'

"No reason," she finally said. He just looked at her for a moment and turned back to his meal.

They sat there on the rock eating lunch in silence for quite some time before Motoko spoke again.

"Akira told me something interesting," she began. Max froze for an instant, a deer in the headlights.

"What did she say?"

"She said you kissed her the other day." And there it was. Max looked down at his hands and wiped off some crumbs on his jeans.

"It wasn't on purpose," he began after a moment, fumbling for the right words. "It was a spur of the moment sort of thing, the kind of thing that happens in a moment of weakness," he explained, sliding down off the rock and facing away from the girl so she couldn't see the embarrassment on his face. "I regret doing it," he added quietly and walked away, leaving Motoko and the rest of his lunch on the rock.

'Well, that didn't go well,' Motoko thought. Still, she could see where Akira's fascination had come from…it was likely the common feminine need to give help to a lonely male who needed it. It was a potent feeling if left unchecked, but Motoko was no ordinary woman. It was unusual that Max-san did not attempt to take advantage of it, however. The vast majority of the men she had been exposed to thus far would have run with it at the first chance. 'Well, maybe not all,' she amended as she recalled a certain dorm manager. And those scars on his arms, he seemed sensitive about them…that was unusual. She considered that for a moment, and what she knew of his history. He was likely covered in them, and that would explain why he was always over-clothed. She had never seen him before today wear anything other than full-length pants and a long-sleeved shirt or coat, leaving only his head and hands showing, while she and Akira had both days ago settled into wearing shorts and a tank top most of the time. There was an odd mark on the side of his neck that could have been an old scar, and several small ones on his hands, but nothing so dramatic as what she had just seen. It was odd that such a big man was so shy about a scar, however.

She realized her thoughts had drifted, so she refocused on the present. Max-dono really was unusual…she had even tested him by giving him an opening when she climbed up on the rock. He had politely ignored the view offered and hadn't made any of the comments most men made at such times.

She gave a small laugh and smiled.

"A formidable opponent indeed."

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Yuuna, in her room back at the Kyoto hotel owned by Iincho's family, tightened her grip on the wand she had been practicing with for weeks now. She had overheard Iincho talking to someone on a cell phone earlier, and she had mentioned that Negi's group was searching for Akira at the Konoe estate. Yuuna, ever resourceful, had quickly ferreted out its location and driven past it several times in a taxi.

Tomorrow, she decided, she would go there and make them tell her where Akira was.

For better or worse, tomorrow would be a big day.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: The introduction of two major characters…how was it? As for the others, yeah, preparations and whatnot. Not particularly interesting. Also, poor Setsuna, trapped alone in a small room with Tsuruko and being formal, it's not a place I would want to be.


	16. Chapter 16

**Still Waters Run Deep**: Standing on a Hill in My Mountain of Dreams

* * *

Max pedaled the bicycle down the forest path, eventually making his way out onto the road, which he followed for several miles before coming to a small convenience store. He wheeled into the parking lot and rolled up onto the sidewalk in front of the store, where he dismounted the bike. He checked himself over to make sure he was presentable, then entered. The only person in the store was a middle aged man behind the counter. Max nodded at him and received a nod in turn.

"Hello, Hiro." The clerk was a man of few words, but they had gotten along well the few times Max had gone out for supplies.

He gathered up the usual, first aid supplies, batteries for the flashlights, lamp oil, and the like and piled it on the counter. He paused for a moment at the candy section, then threw in a handful of candy bars for Akira. He paid for his order and waited, drinking a coke while Hiro bagged it up for him.

"See ya later, Hiro-san."

"You too."

Outside, he strapped the bags to the luggage rack behind the seat and set off at a leisurely pace, thinking about the events of the past few weeks. He kept replaying the many spars he had had with both Motoko and Akira. Motoko's skill far surpassed his own, though if it came down to physical strength he would likely win. Such was the penalty for not focusing on one weapon or style of fighting, he supposed. On the other hand, Akira's sheer power was unbeatable, but her swordplay, though steadily improving, was still full of openings Max could take advantage of.

11111111

Motoko had long overstayed her original estimate of three days, and Max knew that he and Akira couldn't stay in their peaceful little valley forever. He didn't want to expose the girl to the type of life you lived while on the run, but logically it would be better to just get it over with. He sighed as he turned off on the forest path. He would hate to leave this place, but it was necessary. His thoughts screeched to a halt when he saw Motoko come striding up the forest path. He dismounted and walked the bike toward her. "Hello, Motoko. Is something wrong?"

Motoko smiled, but her eyes were on full alert. "Act normal, don't make any sudden movements. Talk normally," she said quietly. Then she spoke in a normal tone, "No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to see what you brought back this time."

Max continued on for a moment in silence, wondering where the enemy was. He felt naked without a blade, but he knew he could rely on his fire if worst came to worst. He wasn't worried about Motoko, the girl could take care of herself. He somehow kept up a steady stream of meaningless small talk with her as they walked, the two of them appearing to an untrained eye to simply be good friends out for a walk. He knew the charade was over, however, when Motoko stopped walking and pretended to be reseating her shoe. Max continued on a few paces to give her some room, then paused and put the kickstand on the bike down and waited for whatever may come.

"Hello sister," Motoko said in a low tone. "Is there a reason you are following us?" Suddenly the air was heavy with a sense of waiting. Max had been in situations like that before…the smallest thing could set off a bloodbath.

"Hoho, well done, Motoko-han." Max looked around for a moment before spotting the familiar woman.

"Tsuruko?"

"Hello, Max-dono. It has been quite some time, hasn't it?" Tsuruko asked pleasantly.

He grinned. Yes, it sure had. "A bit too long, really."

She smiled and turned back to Motoko. "It is a surprise to find you here, Motoko-han. Are you aware that Max-dono is a refugee?"

Motoko held up a hand to quiet Max. "Yes, I am well aware. However, there is a very good reason for his actions, and I trust his intentions."

"Very well," Tsuruko said as she launched herself forward, blade drawn. Motoko drew her sword and warded off the attack and in the next instant pulled something shiny out of a pocket and stood facing her sister, sword in one hand, small object in the other.

Max strained his eyes to see what it was. A stick? No, it looked like a pen.

Tsuruko darted forward, and Motoko went to meet her, displaying an unusual technique Max had never seen her use before, blocking Tsuruko's strikes with the pen while she attacked with her sword, though neither sister managed to land a hit.

After a wild flurry of attacks, Tsuruko stepped back and laughed lightly, and suddenly the tension that had hung heavily in the air evaporated and Max released a breath he hadn't been aware of holding.

"Very well, I trust your judgment. Everyone, you may come out now," Tsuruko called lightly, and suddenly four people Max hadn't expected to ever see again stepped out from various hiding places.

"Negi? Setsuna?" Max asked. Asuna and Konoka were also there. "What are you doing here?" He glanced over at Motoko and saw her smiling broadly at the half-demon girl.

"Max-san, why did you take Akira-san away? We've all been worried sick!" Negi demanded as he marched up to the much taller man and tried to fix him with a glare. On such a young kid, however, it just came across as cute.

"Er…there's a reason. You just have to believe me Negi, there's a very good reason," Max said, holding up his hands.

"Practe Bigi Nar, Aldescat!" The fireball, a big one by anyone's standards, flared up and exploded in Max's face much to everyone's surprise, and then Yuuna was on him as he staggered back from the explosion, pounding and kicking before anyone could do anything. Max struggled with her for an instant before flipping her off and pinning her to the ground. His chest heaved as he tried to catch the breath that had been burned out of his lungs. His shirt had been mostly burned off, but his brutally scarred skin seemed to be untouched by the fire and his appearance drew a few startled gasps.

When he finally realized who he was looking at, anger raged through him, making him forget his embarrassment at being unclothed. What she had just done had been so incredibly dangerous…there were so many people standing around, and Negi had been _right there_. He glanced around and spotted the boy, dazed and slightly singed, being tended to by Asuna while the others stared in shock at Yuuna's wriggling form. Even Tsuruko seemed surprised, her mouth open in a very out-of-character O shape. There was no way she could have been unaware of Yuuna's presence; she had probably thought the girl was harmless.

Max waited until Yuuna stopped wriggling, then let her up. She immediately hit him, so he threw her to the ground and straddled her, lifting her up by the front of her shirt.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You could have killed someone with that!" he shouted as she tried to cringe away. It was just so irresponsible! "What the hell were you thinking?" he yelled and gave her a hard shake. "Look, do you see Negi over there? What if he had been hit by that instead of me? It would've killed him!" He raised a hand to slap her, hesitated as her eyes widened, and almost hit her anyway until Motoko grabbed his upraised hand. He struggled for a moment, and then the blind rage was draining away and he let the girl go and got back to his feet, feeling like a horrible failure of a person.

He paced around for a moment, working out the last of his anger, and placed a hand on his forehead, massaging his temples. Ugh, this would not be fun. "I'm sorry, Yuuna," he said after a moment. And suddenly everyone was talking and he was aware of Konoka and Setsuna standing around him, asking all sorts of questions he wasn't ready or willing to answer.

Someone asked him how he was still alive, and he shrugged it off as a fluke, he didn't feel like explaining the basics of being a fire elemental at the moment. Negi chose that moment to get back to his (wobbly) feet, and Yuuna stared at the boy with wide eyes before breaking down into a crying, babbling fit, only then realizing what she could have done in her haste to get her friend back. Asuna looked as though she wanted to push the girl away and comfort her at the same time, and Setsuna just stood there gaping, looking between her teachers and sempais and fellow students and trying to figure out what had just happened, having been thrown completely off guard by Tsuruko's presence from the moment they set out, now doubly so by Motoko as well.

Tsuruko was the first to regain her composure of course, quickly followed by Motoko. "That was…unexpected," Tsuruko said after a moment, and Motoko nodded.

Max abruptly sat down. "I…I think I need to rest for a moment. He fell back and stared up at the forest canopy above, and gave a small, semi-hysterical laugh, and soon the others began to join in. Soon everyone was laughing like a bunch of lunatics, and even Tsuruko and Motoko were smiling. "I think you almost gave me a heart attack, Yuuna," he said when the laughter finally died off. Someone handed him a shirt, which he put on. It was too small, but it would have to do. At least it covered the scars. Rikki had always said they were so ugly...

"Yuuna-san, where did you learn that? And Max-san, where is Akira-san? Is she ok?" Negi asked, voicing the questions on everyone's mind.

Yuuna looked a bit sheepish and just muttered something. She didn't want to admit spying on Yuekichi and Honya.

"She's fine," Max said. He picked up the fallen bicycle, rebagged the spilled items, and led the way. "She's in the valley up ahead, I left her there to train while I went out for supplies. I believe Tsuruko knows the way," he added. Tsuruko nodded and took the lead as the path wound through the forest and up the rocky mountainside to the hidden cave.

They paused when they reached the other side while newcomer and veteran alike admired the view, then hurried down to the waterfall shrine, where everyone placed their offerings. Yuuna had nothing but a small multitool, but as it contained a knife blade, Tsuruko deemed it sufficient for the Shrine's purposes.

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Akira was just where he had left her, practicing her sword forms down by the lake. Max called out to her. "I'm back, Akira. How far have you gotten?"

The girl turned around to answer, but the next thing she knew, Yuuna was coming in for a flying tackle-hug and the both of them hit the ground hard, laughing.

"Yuuna!"

"Akira! Are you ok? He didn't molest you, did he?"

Akira, beet red, spluttered for a moment, shaking her head. Yuuna turned to give Max a measuring look. "She seems ok, so I'll forgive you for now," she said seriously.

"Akira-san! Are you ok? You haven't been injured, have you?" Negi asked as he fawned over his formerly missing student.

"No, I'm fine," Akira said, shrugging off their questions. She took another look at Negi. A mage, huh? That answered so many questions she had wanted to ask…she had seen a lot of strange things while in Negi's class, and this explained most of them. It was still hard to believe though. He was just so young! Then again, he was already a teacher at that age…

"Akira-san?" Negi asked hesitantly.

"Why is everyone here?" she finally asked.

"To save you, that's why," Yuuna answered as she slapped Akira roughly on the back.

"Save me? From what?"

"From the diabolical clutches of Max-sensei, obviously," Asuna said, half-joking.

Akira looked at her blankly for a moment. "What?"

"You see," Negi explained, "When you disappeared during the festival, your room was a mess. There were broken things everywhere and even some blood on the floor. We were worried that Max-san had kidnapped you."

Max snorted. "Of course the American gets blamed."

Akira shook her head. "No, Max-sensei saved me. A man came into my room and Max-sensei stopped him and tied him up. Then we left."

Max started to speak. "It's true. There's been some sort of scandal at work and my boss had to retire. The new guy wanted me to capture Akira here and hand her over immediately." He took a long drink, then continued. "I couldn't do it." He told them an edited version of Marshall's past and the projects he had been rumored to be involved in. It wasn't pretty.

"Why is such a man in a position of power?" Tsuruko asked, showing no external signs that she had been affected by the stories, though her voice quivered ever-so-slightly, a definite sign of rage bubbling below the surface for anyone who knew her.

"He has money, and he has friends who can put pressure on the higher ups. If you add the fact that he has no problems using force or blackmail or anything like that, you can easily see how he could work himself into a high rank, such as the head of the section I used to work for."

"Why haven't the American Division's mage police done anything?"

"Marshall's also worked himself into the public spotlight as some sort of father-figure. They say half the country could recognize a picture of him, and for the most part they love him. The mage police couldn't do anything without bringing attention to Marshall's secret life, and he has kept his other actions well within the normal people's laws, so the regular police won't touch him without good reason."

There was silence for a moment as everyone digested that information.

Finally Asuna spoke up. "So, you said earlier that some of their agents are here in Japan, right? What do we do about that?"

"'We' will do nothing. I'll go and take them out if necessary."

"Is that okay?"

"I'd hate to do it, some of these guys are my friends after all. But…" He glanced over at Akira. "I can't let them take Akira, not with Marshall in charge."

"We have to go back to Mahora, you know," Negi said suddenly. Max looked up sharply. "We can protect her better there. Mahora is full of mage-teachers, my students are there too. People like Kaede-san and Ku Fei-san. Master is there too, and I'm sure she would help if we asked her."

Max looked down at Negi's pleading face. "Ugh." He looked out over the lake, glanced at Akira and Yuuna, then moved on to Motoko and Tsuruko, and finally back to Akira. "What do you think, Akira?"

She smiled. "I would like to go back, Max-sensei," she said after a moment.

He heaved a sigh and something seemed to go out of him. "Fine then. But I'm not letting her go anywhere without half a dozen of your best people around her at all times, okay? These people are strong, you don't want to underestimate them."

"So who are they, anyway?" Asuna asked.

"Well, they'll probably send Nil, he's the main hacker and intel-guy in our section. Marlin's already there, he's the guy that was in Akira's room. Marlin usually scouts around or captures people as necessary, and often acts as the leader. He can do just about anything that doesn't require magic. Speaking of magic, they'll probably send Arvel as well. He's a pretty strong mage, and mean as a snake. If you see him, you've got to get away or you'll die, simple as that."

There were some murmurs and a bit of arguing for a moment, and then Setsuna spoke up for the first time. "So there are only three?"

"Well, a three-man team was the standard under Wilder. Marshall might've changed things, but I don't think there will be any more than that. Anyone else got a question?"

They picked his brain on tactics, planning, overall strategy, and the like for the next hour before everyone was satisfied. After some arguing, it was decided that they would spend the night here and leave tomorrow morning. With any luck, they could be back in Mahora tomorrow afternoon.

'Well, except for Tsuruko and Motoko,' Max thought as he stretched out on a big rock in the sun. The two Aoyama sisters would head to their own homes of course. Also, apparently Setsuna was a student of theirs, and seemed particularly close to Motoko. He could hear them practicing together even now, punctuated by a shout every now and then. He knew Konoka was probably over there watching as well. What was the deal with those two anyway?

Speaking of which…what was the deal with Yuuna and Akira? Those two had been inseparable since the new group's arrival as well. 'The only ones that aren't paired up are Negi and Asuna, but—wait, scratch that, they're over there,' Max thought as he glanced over at the two, who seemed to be deep into an intense conversation while the ermine listened and made comments from to time. 'So, it really is his familiar,' Max thought.

He decided to ignore them and relax while he still could. Things might come to a head pretty quickly once the group returned to Mahora, and he wasn't looking forward to killing any friends when they did.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Upcoming chapters will be rough, you have been warned. Be prepared for anything.


	17. Chapter 17

**Still Waters Run Deep**: Oh, Throw Down Your Plow And Hoe, Rest Not To Lock Your Homes

* * *

Guy Sculler stood staring at the two men in the hotel room. It wasn't a glare, precisely, but something much worse.

"Linell escaped with the water elemental and you people are still _here?_" His tone promised horrible things to come if they didn't explain immediately.

The two looked at each other, then Nil spoke up. "The kid teacher, Negi Springfield, went to find them and bring them back. We figured we'd let him do our work for us."

Guy looked back and forth between the two, the sheer menace in the air almost palpable. Then with a final frown, the man turned and exited the room without another word, his long gray coat sweeping through the air behind him.

The two sat there in silence for almost a full minute after the pale man left, hardly daring to breath.

Marlin took off his sunglasses and ran his sleeve across his forehead to remove the sweat. A stray thought crossed his mind and brought a wry smile to his lips.

"Now _that_ is a badass longcoat," he said, looking at Nil across the room.

"Hah!"

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Arvel stalked through the side roads of Mahora, eager for something, anything to happen. He had been stuck in this backwoods town for weeks, and there had been literally nothing to do. He was simply _boiling_ for some action, any action. He was about to head back to the hotel room when a fat man he recognized as a teacher at Mahora bumped into him.

"What the hell was that?" he asked indignantly, grabbing the front of the fat man's shirt.

"What? I'm sorry, now please let go, my daughter—"

"Are you giving me orders? Nobody gives me orders, Nikuman." He thought that was a pretty good joke, calling the man nikuman like that, the best joke he had made all week, in fact; he would have to tell the guys about it when he got back to the room in that shithole hotel. Anyway, from the looks of the fat man, he sure had eaten enough of them. He gave the man a hard shove and kicked his legs out from under him. The little girl that Arvel hadn't noticed until now started crying at that.

"Shut up, brat." The kid continued and Arvel glared even more fiercely. "Shut the hell up, brat!"

"Get away from her!" Mr. Nikuman said as he crawled in front of the girl.

Arvel kicked the fat teacher hard in the stomach as he was trying to get up. The man grunted and fell down, rolling several feet down the gently sloped sidewalk while the little girl cried even more loudly.

"Arvel, I've got a better job for you than kicking fat men and picking on children," a voice said from behind him.

"Guy? Oh wow, Guy! Man, I've been looking forward to you showing up! Everyone's gone for the summer. There's nothing to do here at all, the whole town's dead." He ignored the fat teacher, who got to his feet and waddled off with the child.

"It's time to shake this place up, I think," Guy said as he eyed the fat teacher, who was running now. Arvel couldn't help but agree.

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By the time Negi and his students returned to Mahora, an eerie silence prevailed. It was empty as expected (most of the students, teachers, and residents had left for the summer, after all), but still, it was eerily quiet, the air was dead still, and there were none of the usual bird or animal sounds that one came to expect in Mahora. And there was an odd smell in the air, similar to the thick stench of burning tires. Max glanced at the other fighters as the class disembarked from the bus, and saw that they had fanned out along the outer edges of the group in defensive positions.

So he wasn't imagining things. Max slung his heavy pack off his back and instead carried it by the straps while he took a better look around. Something was wrong here, and he would take no chances, if he could. Several of the normal students began to wander off until Negi, sensing the oddness in the air, asked the class rep to get them back under control.

"Akira." Max spoke quietly. Akira was quickly at his side. "Negi, come here a minute," he said. Negi and Asuna approached along with Kamo and came in close with Akira while Max talked quietly.

"Something's wrong, Negi. I think—"

"I think you're right," came a stranger's flat voice from inches away. Suddenly a pale man materialized among them in a gust of wind with one arm around Akira's stomach and the other covering her mouth as he stared coldly at Max. It was only an instant, but the fear in Akira's face and the pure _hate_ in her kidnapper's was startling.

What felt like a wall of wind blasted into Max hard enough to throw him to the ground ten feet away. He scrambled up and the pale man was gone with Akira, just like that. A quick glance showed Negi and Asuna had been sent flying as well. Negi was already up while Asuna seemed stunned. The other students were in mixed stages of surprise, confusion and fear while they milled around and shouted questions.

"Akira!" Kazumi looked around wildly for the tall girl, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Akira-san!" Negi shouted.

"Quickly, get everyone out of here, I'll find her!" Max shouted as students started to panic.

"Oh no you won't," Arvel said as he stepped out dramatically from behind a building, his long coat almost tangling around his legs in the now-dead air. Then all hell broke loose.

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The cheerleaders looked at the scene of utter devastation in shock. Their favorite café had been reduced to smoking rubble. They had come here before the trip, just a few days ago…somehow it didn't seem real.

"I hope clerk-oji-san wasn't in there," Sakurako said quietly.

"What happened? Was it a bomb, do you think?" Madoka asked, but no one answered. The three of them had managed to sneak off before Iincho started to gather up the students, and she was quite sure she had seen a few others do so as well.

"Misa, Sakurako, I think we need to go back, something's wrong," Madoka said suddenly, not quite referring to the ruins before them. "Come on," she said, grabbing her friends' wrists. "We need to go."

That was when the sound of the explosions reached them.

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Yue and Nodoka hid in the bathroom of a building near the bus stop, trying to figure out what was going on outside. According to Nodoka's artifact, some crazy man was attacking the class, and the more combat-oriented students were trying to protect everyone as they fled. Yue had needed to use the bathroom earlier and Nodoka had accompanied her, placing them both firmly outside of the combat area, which had quickly moved away from the bus stop. There wasn't much she could do from her current position but hide.

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"Asakura-san! Please take Saotome-san and get the normal students to safety!" Sakurazaki Setsuna shouted to the other girl. "Hurry, we can't fight him with everyone else to worry about!"

"Gotcha!" Kazumi answered and began to speak to the girls hiding in the alleyway behind her. Kamo climbed up and perched on top of her head. They had been split into two groups when the attack started; half of them had crammed into this small alley, and the rest were scattered between a few buildings on the other side of the street. The constant rain of explosions and shrapnel moved farther off for a moment, so Setsuna nodded to Kazumi, who turned back to the students.

"Come on, they moved off. Everyone needs to move now, ok? We're going down the street to that concert hall, ok everyone? Let's go!" Kazumi said enthusiastically.

Setsuna waved to Asuna and Iincho across the street, who got their people moving as well. With any luck, they could be in a safe place in no more than five minutes.

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Kaede was down, a surprise blast had bounced her off of a brick wall early in the fight and she now lay motionless on the far side of the street. Negi, Kotarou, and Ku Fei were currently keeping Arvel busy, and the non combat types were scattered. Max had no idea where Asuna or Setsuna were, or the rest of the class for that matter. He wrapped a makeshift bandage around his arm to cover a gash he had received from flying glass, and prepared to launch another attack. "How could I have let my guard down like that?" he said aloud. Honestly, he should have seen it coming, especially after all that sparring with Motoko and Akira. He should've been sharp, on edge and expecting anything, but he had let Guy Sculler of all people kidnap Akira, and now Arvel was running amuck and trying to burn down Mahora. This was a disaster. But where were all the mage teachers? The Headmaster? His thoughts were interrupted by a particularly loud explosion that sent Negi flying into a nearby building.

"Negi?"

"Max-san," the boy said as he crawled out of the rubble. It seemed his mage's shield had blocked most of the damage. "I wish Takamichi was here, he would make short work of that mage," Negi said. Unfortunately, Takamichi was still back in Kyoto on some business for the school.

"How bad is it, kid?" Max changed the subject as he wound a bandage around an ugly wound on Negi's arm. There was no time to find Konoka and get it healed.

"Everyone is scattered now," Negi replied. "Nodoka-san and Yue-san are hiding in a bathroom near the bus stop and Asuna-san and Setsuna-san are moving most of the students away, but the rest are spread around everywhere. If only we knew his name! Then Nodoka-san could use her artifact to help us."

"I see, a mind-reading artifact?"

"Yes, how did you know, Max-san?" Negi asked distractedly. Even now, in such a situation, he was still attempting polite conversation.

"I've had some experience with people who use them; it doesn't matter. His name's Arvel. You've got some method to communicate with her, right? Tell her that. His name's Arvel, like Marvel but without the M. He's an orphan from the magic world, he doesn't have a last name." He looked around, trying to locate the enemy mage while Negi conversed with Nodoka via pactio card. After a moment, the boy's face went white.

"What, what's wrong, tell me!" Max demanded. Surely no one had died yet? The fight had only just begun...!

"Nodoka-san…Nodoka-san says he is really trying to kill us…" Max just looked at him for a moment.

"Of course he is, I warned you about that before! Now get yourself under control and let's go stop him," Max said. What, had the boy never been in a serious fight before? It wasn't as if Negi was weak, he had quite a bit more power at his disposal than Arvel did. He paused a moment. Well, this was Japan, one of the most peaceful countries in the world, after all. He sighed.

"Look, Negi. Why don't you go and get your non-combat students together and get them out of here?" he said, offering an honorable way out for Negi.

The boy looked at him in confusion for a moment. "What? I can't abandon Asuna-san and the others," he said.

"Then come on, let's go!" Max said as he darted from his hiding spot.

The two made their way toward the sound of explosions, stopping to make sure Kaede was all right on the way.

"I made a mistake de gozaru," she said when they approached. "Let's go."

The arrived just in time to see Kotarou get blasted by a fireball that he somehow managed to ward off just enough to avoid serious injury. Max ducked down behind an upraised piece of road and pulled Negi down behind him. Kaede was there an instant later.

"He's a fire and wood mage, and his specialty is pretty much just destruction. If you've got a barrier against magical attacks, he'll just blast the things around you and get you with the shrapnel. He doesn't care about collateral damage, especially when he's not the one that has to pay for it after the battle's over. I've even seen him go as far as collapsing a building to get one person." Max glanced at Kaede, then looked at Negi for a moment. He figured the boy could take this next part, and it was vital information as well.

"It is likely that Marshall turned him loose to do as he pleased in order to slow us down. Don't be surprised if he targets an innocent person to draw your attention away while he sets up a trap for you," he said.

Again, Negi seemed confused and Max wanted to shake the boy and tell him to go home and play and have fun like a normal ten year old. Instead, he began talking about Arvel's strategy in plainer terms.

"He will likely target one of your students, Negi. He'll kill one of these girls and then kill you while you're standing there staring, got that? From there, he'll kill the rest of them one by one."

"Max-dono," Kaede said disapprovingly.

Negi's eyes were wide. 'Good, he finally understands,' Max thought. Then the boy tightened his fists and a disturbing change came over him.

"I won't let him," Negi muttered. "I won't let him!" The air seemed to pulse once, twice. Max recognized the power surges for what they were, and was glad. Negi would need every bit of that power if he expected his students to live to see another sunrise.

At that moment, Arvel came flying through the air, having barely managed to block a powerful strike by Ku Fei, and Negi was flying toward him so fast that Arvel never saw what hit him. He was sent flying in an explosion of power and disappeared through a couple of buildings. Max saw a chance to gather their dispersed forces, so he took it.

"Everyone, fall back to the hotel, regroup! Now! Go!" Students came out of the woodwork then, along with a few civilians that hadn't evacuated and one badly injured mage-teacher. Max rushed past Negi to where he had seen Arvel fall, but the man was gone. There was a small splash of blood on the order what might come from a broken nose, but otherwise no sign of him. Max fell back to the hotel as well, making sure the boy teacher followed.

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They got the story from the mage teacher.

It had begun just that morning. While Arvel had been lording around town for weeks, he hadn't actually done anything to anyone until that morning, when he had kicked a mage teacher, Nijuuin-sensei, in front of his young daughter and then left with another man. For the next half-hour or so it had been quiet, but soon enough the explosions had started. The first thing Arvel had done was blow up a popular café, then he had collapsed an apartment building with a well placed fireball to its foundation. When that only elicited the appearance of a few mage-teachers, he had used wood magic to grow vines from the ground, which entangled and trapped the teachers.

He had then set the vines on fire and left, randomly shooting fireballs at various buildings on his way. Apparently, he didn't deign to use anything so lowly or restrained as a sagitta magica.

Luckily the teachers had managed to escape with only a few burns with the assistance of some of the few locals who hadn't left for the summer. From there on, things had only gotten more chaotic. Konoemon called a meeting of mage teachers, and sent out sorties. But whatever was going on was beyond their level. Arvel made short work of all of them with his seemingly instant fireballs and love of destruction. He seemed to enjoy the act of destroying random things to a disturbing level; it was no wonder he was kept under tight rein by a government agency, as little else could have kept him from killing thousands. Most of the teachers, while they _were _mages, were back-row, desk types with little real combat experience; they hadn't stood a chance against someone as utterly vicious as Arvel. During one of the first battles with the mage teachers, he had almost killed Touko-sensei with a vine that shot out of the ground like a spike and impaled her. Luckily he had missed the vital areas and she was currently in a temporary hospital ward under the library, where the headmaster and mage teachers had brought all the civilians and other survivors they could find along the way.

There were several groups of civilians and mage teachers hiding in protected places around the city, but there was no effective way to communicate between the groups for any sort of organized assault against the madman. The last the mage teacher had heard, the headmaster was trying to figure out a way to release or work around Eva's curse long enough for her to stop the attacks. That, at least, should be fairly easy, much more so than what had been done for the first Kyoto trip. As for the others, no one had seen Mana since the incident started, and the teacher supposed they might have picked her off in the beginning. So far, at least a dozen people had been killed, and it wouldn't be a surprise to find that they chose to go after a known threat first.

Max cursed loudly in every language he knew, drawing annoyance, then disgust, then shock, and finally admiration at his command of language before he ran out of steam.

Negi just remained silent. Max could tell the kid was furious, and dead serious as well. He looked around Negi's small fighting force and recognized the looks on their faces. Negi, Ku Fei, Kaede, Kotarou, the mage teacher and the civilians and students that were still coming in. He had been in similar situations all his life, had seen similar faces on battlefields around the world.

These people were _pissed_.

Even the normally calm and smiling Kaede was letting off an aura that promised swift death. Her smile was gone without a trace, and her eyes were opened slightly. The tension in the air was thick enough to be stifling, and that was good. They realized the seriousness of the situation now. Arvel could not be allowed to continue, and Guy had to be stopped as well.

Actually, Guy was a lot worse than Arvel, but he didn't tell them that. Guy was his prey. Guy had taken Akira. Guy had likely been the one to turn Arvel loose. Guy was responsible for this whole mess. Sure, Marshall was the leader, but Guy was the firepower. Without Guy, Marshall wouldn't have moved.

Guy had killed Rikki, back in the days of his youth.

Max grinned an ugly, humorless grin that sent shudders through more than a few of those present and considered his options.

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"Do you have her?" Oscar Marshall asked when Guy opened the door to the headmaster's office. Marshall had commandeered the school building and the headmaster's office as soon as the school was evacuated by the escaping mage teachers. Headmaster Konoe was well known and respected in the magic world, and Marshall had never liked the man based on that fact alone. He smiled widely as Guy shoved the water elemental into the room.

"Excellent, excellent. Come here little girl," he said, beckoning and putting on his 'generic father figure' face. Akira just looked at him, so Guy gave her a hard shove and she tripped, unable to stop her fall with her hands handcuffed together behind her back. He tossed her bag on the couch and unwrapped the oblong package that had been tied to the top of it.

"Come now, Guy. There is no need to be push the girl," Marshall said, heaving his ponderous bulk out of the headmaster's chair. The chair creaked and groaned alarmingly with every move the big man made; it had been built for someone possessing a much less substantial frame. He made his way over to the girl as she tried to stand and lifted her to her feet. She couldn't help but shy away in revulsion from his touch, and he frowned. That would not do, so he slapped her hard, sending her spinning to the floor again.

"If you are rebellious, you can expect more of that," he said, his breath loud and heavy in the room.

"Huh. Look at this, it's one of Linell's swords," Guy said, drawing the blade several inches and then shoving it back into the sheath. He tossed it to Marshall, who caught it awkwardly. He only spared it a short glance before he put it on a nearby table; he couldn't care less about swords.

"I wonder what Jennifer would say about that?" Marshall asked.

Akira sat up on the floor and waited. Something in her wanted to retreat from the fat man, his mere presence seemed to scream danger. She shivered in spite of herself every time he glanced at her. If she could find a chance to use her ability… She realized with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had just considered killing him, and shivered.

"Here, let's take these handcuffs off." Marshall almost fumbled the key Guy tossed him, then unlocked the handcuffs holding her arms behind her back.

'Max-sensei wouldn't have fumbled it,' she thought as she got up and rubbed her sore wrists. She tried to find some usable water with which to defend herself, and was disturbed to feel a response from the fat man standing before her. She shuddered again and realized she shouldn't be surprised. They said the human body was 90% water after all. Or was that 70%? But anyway, the fat man staring at her now must be a treasure trove of the stuff. He reached out and she recoiled in disgust again, and was promptly slapped. She honestly hadn't meant to shy away from him, but his mere presence terrified her. He felt dirty, and it made her uncomfortable.

He reached out again and cupped the side of her face in his fat hand, and waves of terror and revulsion flooded through her; she felt like vomiting, but managed enough self control to not jerk away this time. Finally he removed his hand, but the sensation of danger remained as he moved across the room and opened a laptop computer on the headmaster's desk and sat down, typing away.

After a moment, the other man strolled to the big window behind the headmaster's desk and looked out. It seemed for the moment that she was all but forgotten, so she darted to the table her sword had been left on and snatched it up, drawing it from the sheath as she turned. She wasn't quite sure what she was going to do with it, but anything was better than letting that…that monster near her again. When something grabbed her arm and yanked her to the side, she was shocked to see that the potted plant in the corner had grown a long root which was now wrapped around her wrist. Guy walked over and struck her hand sharply, forcing her to drop the sword, which he then kicked away.

"You're not the only one with elemental ability, girl," Marshall said from across the room, his previous faux-friendliness replaced by a measuring gaze that sent shivers down her spine.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Here we go now.


	18. Chapter 18

**Still Waters Run Deep**: On a Quest, Meaning, Reason

* * *

Nil stumbled through the ruined hallway, keeping away from the missing wall that now opened out into nothing.

"I knew I should have told that idiot to be more careful," he said to himself as he approached the room they had been living in up to now. He should have known better, he had been working with Arvel for years now, after all. The mage had taken a quick dislike to their temporary home in Mahora right away, and blowing it up the first chance he got was just like him.

After a moment Nil fished out the key and opened the door, revealing the ruins of what had previously been a pretty nice room. One glance sufficed to show that his beloved computer equipment was a total loss. Yep, a steel I-beam tended to do bad things to high end computer systems. It was a shame his computer duel was ruined, but he ignored the damage and gathered what was left of his stuff, then did the same thing for Marlin, who was on watch outside. Nil climbed down the ruinous stairwell and found his partner, and then the two quickly headed off toward the new base of operations, the girls' school building.

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Asuna and Setsuna left Iincho in charge of the students and civilians they had gathered and headed off for the last place they had seen Negi. On the way there, they picked up Konoka, who had been wandering around looking for them.

As they ran through the streets, they couldn't help but survey the damage. Mahora was a disaster area; collapsed or burning buildings were everywhere, and there were no signs of people anywhere except the occasional abandoned suitcase or a shoe lying hopelessly in the middle of the road. They passed a well-worn teddy bear lying forlornly on the sidewalk, and Konoka stooped to pick it up.

Asuna paused.

"Konoka?"

The long haired girl wiped her eyes and placed the bear against the wall of a nearby building, so it looked as though it were sitting down. "Let's go," she said, a determined light growing in her eyes.

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Misa peeked around the corner, then motioned for the other two cheerleaders to follow as she ran into an alley across the road. Madoka was the last to enter the alleyway, and she dropped to a crouch beside Misa and Sakurako facing the street, tightly gripping the wooden baseball bat she had picked up somewhere.

Things were bad. They hadn't seen anyone except one of the teachers from the school hurrying down the road about ten minutes before. Sakurako had wanted to call out to the man, but Madoka had stopped her. The teacher had looked enraged, and was heading toward the sounds of destruction deeper in the city.

"Okay, I think we should head for Library Island," Misa said, looking at a map they had picked up from a half-destroyed convenience store. "See? It says 'Emergency Fallout Shelter' right there. That means it's safe, right?"

"I want to go back to where Negi-kun is," Sakurako muttered. The girl had lost all her spunk when they had found the dead man earlier after they saw the teacher; she had been like a ghost of her former self ever since. He had been badly burned and unrecognizable.

"We don't know where Negi-kun is," Madoka offered. "But I think Library Island is a good choice." She gripped the bat tighter at a distant sound of falling masonry. She had become incredibly pale too, and was almost violently on edge. Misa had seen her jump at shadows several times in the past few minutes.

Misa looked at her two friends and her worry grew. She didn't know if they would make it, but she knew they definitely wouldn't if they stayed here in the middle of what amounted to little more than a battlefield. For her part, she supposed her calm was unnatural, but it was keeping her from breaking down into a crying fit right there in the street so she welcomed it wholeheartedly.

"Oh shit!" an unfamiliar voice said in surprise.

Misa whipped her head around and saw two men standing at the other end of the alley. Both were foreigners, and she was quite sure she had seen one of them around during the festival so long ago. The man with the sunglasses set down his bag and cracked his knuckles while the other one looked around nervously, like some kind of bird.

"Come on Marlin, we don't have time for this!"

"You heard the orders. No witnesses. We have to capture them or kill them," the man replied as he approached the cheerleaders. "Sorry girls, but—"

The sound of a bat meeting the man's head was shocking in the silence of the deserted town.

Misa had always expected that sound to be not unlike the sound of a bat hitting a baseball, but it was shockingly, freakishly _different_. She knew instinctively that she would be hearing that horrible, fleshy sound in her dreams every night for a long time to come.

The next few seconds played out in slow motion for Misa. She didn't know how Madoka had crossed the distance between where the alley opened on the street and where the sunglasses-man was standing, but suddenly she was there, swinging the bat repeatedly. Misa vaguely noticed Sakurako stand up shakily and throw the tire iron she had been carrying with eerie precision, striking the bird-like man in the sternum with the pointy end and dropping him instantly. Misa looked back to Madoka again and saw the impact that broke the man's arm, heard the snap and saw the blood droplets flying around. One red drop hit Misa in the face and she became aware that Madoka was shouting obscenities at the man as she hit him over and over again in the torso. Sakurako was kneeling down and rolling up the map now, saying something Misa couldn't hear. Somehow the bat had broken, but Madoka seemed unaware and kept pounding the sunglasses-man with the fourteen inches of bat she still had, driving it butt first into the side of his face until Sakurako pulled her away.

Misa stood there, staring at the bleeding man as he lay curled in a fetal position trying to cover his head with his good arm. His fingers were all messed up where Madoka had crushed them against his skull with the bat. She could also see a bit of bone poking through the sleeve on his broken arm, and a wave of nausea washed over her. It looked like something was wrong with one of his legs too. She backed up a few steps and retched. The birdy-man was also curled up, coughing and hacking up blood. She was staring, unable to look away until Madoka and Sakurako grabbed her arms and started pulling. She looked down at herself and realized she had vomited on her shoe, and then the three were running away from the bloody alleyway and Misa began to shake.

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Yue peeked around the doorway, trying to gauge if it were clear outside. The area around the bus stop appeared to be deserted, so she motioned Nodoka forward.

They darted out of the bathroom and into a nearby alleyway that seemed promising, where they ducked down between two dumpsters. It was eerily quiet and the air felt heavy, as it will before a summer thunderstorm. The tension covering the town was almost palpable. After a moment Yue stood up and went to the other end of the alley, peeking around the corner.

"Yue…?"

"Come on, Nodoka. We have to find a safe place to hide." This was better than the bathroom they had been hiding in before, but it was still far too open. Nodoka resigned herself to follow, and Yue led the way out of the alley and into another one across the street. There had been a fire here earlier, but with nothing to feed on it had quickly burned itself out. Yue tried not to look at the charred suitcase or think about who might have been carrying it. It wasn't as if there were a body here, after all.

They crossed through a small plaza that was untouched, and crossed through another alley where someone had been bandaged several hours before. Nodoka shied away from the large puddle of blood and the pile of bloody bandages as they passed it.

They crossed several more streets and another plaza where a barely recognizable mage teacher had tried to fight back, but still that eerie silence reigned supreme over the town. They heard some distant screaming at one point, as though someone were cursing at the top of their lungs, but it quickly died away and Yue lead on. Her curiosity compelled her to find out what that had been about, but she knew she couldn't do that, there was no way to tell if it had been friend or foe, civilian or attacker. It had come from too far away, anyway. Whoever had been yelling would be long gone by the time they got there, so she continued on.

"Yue? Where are we going?" Nodoka asked. That teacher…

Yue considered that for a moment. Where _were_ they going? She had had a vague idea of going to the school, but while it was prominent, it was not easily defensible. Library Island, however…

"We're going to Library Island," she said as she took out a juice box and poked the straw into the top, the first Yue-like thing she had done since they left the bathroom.

"Oh, that's a good idea. Wait, I'll tell Negi-sensei," Nodoka said as she took out her pactio card and carefully ignored the brief flashes of the dead teacher she saw every time she closed her eyes.

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Yuuna crept into the remains of the building she used to call home, hoping against hope that she wouldn't find her father still seated at his table. She heaved a sigh of relief when she found the rubble where his desk had been empty. No blood or crushed bodies or anything.

She had avoided a stranger moments before and had counted herself lucky. He had looked creepy and dangerous, and there was no telling what he might have done if he had seen her, so she had hidden behind a dumpster until he was gone, clutching her wand. She wished, not for the first time, that she had gotten Negi-sensei to show her a few more spells. All she knew was the fire one, and she didn't feel safe enough with just that.

She was brought back to reality by the sound of sliding masonry; it was just outside. She tensed up and waited in total silence for a moment.

"I can feel you breathing down there." The voice was strange, one that didn't belong to any of the teachers or other people she knew. She remained silent.

"You can come out or I can collapse this building on top of you, it's your choice."

He sounded dangerous. She was debating whether to show herself or hide when he took the choice from her.

"Fine then, tomb it is," he said. A strong wind suddenly began blowing, and she felt the whole structure shift and begin to buckle around her.

"Wait! Wait, let me out!"

He smiled humorlessly as he watched her scramble out of the ruins of the half-collapsed house. He recognized that face from the reports on the water elemental. If the elemental's best friend were to become a hostage, she would have no choice but to do as they ordered.

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Kazumi, Kamo, and Haruna looked over the people arrayed before them. A good chunk of the class was sitting around in the concert hall, along with a dozen or so of the locals. Iincho was moving around among them, trying to keep everyone calm. Even now Izumi was sobbing uncontrollably, and the Narutaki twins looked like they might start at any moment. Kazumi turned to Haruna.

"So, have you been able to get in contact with Negi-kun? What's the plan?" she asked.

Haruna was oddly quiet, which was very unusual for her. Kazumi again found herself wishing she had found the time to make a pactio with Negi-kun before all this trouble started, but…what was past was past.

"No response. I think he's fighting right now," the girl replied solemnly.

Kazumi blinked at that. A solemn Haruna was something she had never thought to see…ever. She thought about what to do for a moment. The safest place on campus was obviously the underground area of Library Island, but the approach was wide open. If someone came upon them while they were crossing the bridge, they could be swept away into the water with little effort by any magic user. Someone could easily drown… She looked around the room with eyes widened in realization. Some of them could really die, here. Maybe Izumi over there, the shy girl with the mysterious scar that she always tried to hide. Maybe Chizuru, who was consoling the twins like a mother, even though they were older. Maybe even Haruna or herself. The only safe one was Sayo-chan, who she hadn't seen since she left for Kyoto.

All these lives had been placed in her hands. Technically Iincho was in charge, but Kazumi was singularly aware that in this case, Iincho would follow her orders, trusting her to be aware of conditions and shortcuts and whatnot. Kazumi wasn't known as the Mahora Paparazzi for nothing, after all.

She noticed that Haruna was getting herself back under control again. Even now the ghost of her usual smile was crawling across her face.

Kamo suddenly grinned. He had a plan. It was insane, but it could work. The ermine turned to the artist girl and outlined what he needed, causing the girl to look at him oddly in response.

"So, can you do it?"

"Sure I can do it, I am the great Paru Sama! Do you doubt my skill?" she answered in a mock-severe tone.

Good, the girl was quickly regaining her old spirits. They would have to make their way to Library Island unseen if possible. Kazumi told Iincho to get everyone ready, and she was quickly moving among them, rousing everyone to their feet.

66666666

Max cursed as he dove into an alley ahead of a hard flying car. He had been looking for Guy and walked straight into an ambush. Arvel had been waiting for him, and only quick reflexes honed from long years of battle had saved him.

One might think that a mage who used both wood and fire magic would be easily beaten, but that was not the case, here. Arvel was uniquely suited to use such contradictory elements. He was incredibly intelligent as was expected of a powerful mage, but he was also unhinged enough to be able to control opposing elements.

There was a reason most mages either used a single element or had a dominant element…the mind could only handle one dominant element. Sub or backup elements were carefully chosen to enhance the abilities of the primary element, like wood and water or light and wind or darkness and lightning, it was basic magic theory. But Arvel's wood and fire were on an equal footing, something virtually unheard of. Add the fact that they were opposing elements and the so-called 'experts' claimed it couldn't be done.

And the man was relentless. Already Arvel's beloved long coat hung in tatters, his shirt and pants ragged and his sunglasses long discarded. He had some serious injuries and burns, but he ignored them.

And yet, for all that, Negi could have beaten him. Max cursed under his breath again. While Arvel had likely been ordered to slow down Max and keep him busy as long as possible, Max had wanted Negi to do the same with Arvel, giving Max enough time to find Guy and defeat him. With Guy out of the picture, he would make short work of Marshall and free Akira. But now Negi would get there first, and Negi couldn't beat Guy, not as he was now. The kid might die.

And Max's fire was virtually useless against Arvel. Sure, he could overwhelm the mage, but if he exhausted himself on the small fry, he would have nothing left for the real battle.

77777777

Guy entered through the window, carrying Yuuna under his arm like a bag of flour. He roughly deposited the dazed girl on the floor and took in the scene before him. Marshall's face was very red, and Akira was standing on the other side of the desk, watching him warily. Her sword had been knocked from the table again and now lay across the office by the far wall.

There was a distinctive handprint on Marshall's face.

Guy's perpetual frown lifted a bit as he pushed Yuuna toward Akira. Obviously, Marshall had let his wood-nature show through, and Akira had responded with a slap. It was quite amusing, in his opinion. Akira wasn't the kind of girl you said suggestive things to…Akira was the sort of girl you had to take by force. He looked at her with newfound respect and snorted back a laugh when she turned to her friend. Guy strolled over to Marshall.

"Keep your pants on, there will be plenty of time for that sort of thing after this is over, ok?"

Marshall grunted something in response and turned away like a petulant child. Guy snorted back another laugh and poured himself a cup of tea. It was cold and several hours old, but it had a half-decent taste. 'I will have to get some of these tea leaves after this is over,' he thought.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Yeah, Marshall is pretty much exactly the way you're thinking. 'Wood-nature' indeed.


	19. Chapter 19

**Still Waters Run Deep**: So I Dub Thee Unforgiven

* * *

Negi forged ahead, the others following. They had been heading for the school building since Max separated from them, and even now he was trying his hardest and pretending not to hear the explosions and sounds of fighting as Max faced off against Arvel. He was so focused on his target that he didn't even notice Kaede slip away.

11111111

Max darted out and whipped a rope of flame out, burning the incoming vines before they could touch him. Arvel responded in kind and Max abandoned the fire rope for what he fondly thought of as his fire sword, a blade made of flame that he had perfected through intense practice and experimentation.

Unfortunately, Arvel had often been his partner during practice.

Flaming blade met flaming blade as the two squared off. A piercing vine whipped around from behind Arvel, aiming for Max's neck, but he sent out a pulse of superheated air and dried the vine out, leaving it a withered husk that crumbled on contact.

"Damn it I don't have time for this!" Max shouted as he drove a magically-charged fist into Arvel's face, stopping against his shield and throwing the other man thirty feet away. He dodged the incoming vines and chopped them with his fire sword, then ducked into a nearby alley while Arvel was still distracted by the blast and started working his way around the mage.

"Looks like you need some help, de gozaru."

Max spotted Kaede and heaved a sigh of relief. "Kaede, will you take care of this guy? I've got to find Guy before Negi does."

The menace rolled off Kaede in waves as she looked at Arvel, who rampaged out in the street. "No problem," she said, forgoing the usual 'de gozaru'. The effect was quite odd, Max thought as he exited the scene. He didn't envy Arvel…not at all.

22222222

Arvel was blasting buildings and cars at random, hoping to draw Max back out with wanton destruction. What he got was a pissed off ninja.

"Oho, what have we here?" he asked suggestively, running his eyes up and down the ninja girl. He had always liked girl ninjas. And this one looked about the right age…

"Where is Mana-dono?" she asked.

"Who's that?" Arvel asked, pausing in his inspection.

"Tatsumiya Mana-dono, part time shrine maiden, demon hunter, and sniper. Where is she?" Kaede asked again.

"Oh, that sniper girl. I burned her up. I held her down with my vines and I burned her to a crisp!" he boasted, his eyes wild at the memory; he was lost, gone far too deep into the blood frenzy of battle. However, Kaede's aura turned icy cold to the extent that even Arvel, in his current state, realized something was wrong.

A dozen Kaedes flew toward him before he could react.

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"Asakura-san, everyone is ready," Iincho said. They were currently in an alleyway that opened on one side to a small plaza with an excellent view of Library Island.

Kazumi turned to Haruna. "Ok, Paru. Time to show us what you're made of."

44444444

Guy was patrolling the city when he saw a group of people congregating at the bridge that crossed to the big building in the middle of the lake. He had been told to take certain people hostage and kill others, but a few accidental deaths of potential hostages would probably be acceptable. The dead were easier to handle than the living, anyway. He recognized three of his targets and decided to take a chance.

They were already out on the bridge before they saw him flying toward them. They started to run, but it was too late and there was nowhere they could go. Deciding that the dead would be easier to transport and control than the living, he swept the whole group off the bridge with a massive gust of wind that sent them flying and then used air pressure to force them all under the water, watching with zero compassion as the teenagers struggled and died. After the last of them stopped moving, he floated over the water to collect the bodies of the potential hostages. An order was an order, after all.

"Asakura Kazumi. Saotome Haruna. Yukihiro Ayaka." He said their names as he checked them off of the list. He hadn't meant to kill the Yukihiro girl, she would have been a great bargaining chip with her family, but he supposed they would still bargain for her body so it wasn't that great a loss. It wasn't as if they could go back to the American Division after this little foray either, not if anyone found out. It might be wise to gather as many resources as possible.

He scooped up the bodies and flew off toward the base.

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Five minutes later, Misa was the first to get to the bridge, and the first to see the scene in the water.

"Misa, what's wro—" Madoka began.

Everyone was dead, their bodies were floating in the lake.

They had fought their way through the ruins of their city, been attacked and somehow managed to defend themselves against grown men intent on hurting them, and finally made their way here only to see this. It was too much for Misa to bear, and she collapsed to her knees. The three of them had seen several bodies by this point, some of them burned, crushed, or mangled beyond recognition, but none of those had been people they knew. Misa recalled a joke Ako had made the other day and almost collapsed completely when she saw the girl's body floating there. The tears came unbidden, and Sakurako fell down crying beside her. The two leaned into each other for comfort, but Madoka was still standing, looking grimly out at the bodies floating around. She glanced around, fighting back the tears in her eyes, and picked up a long stick. She approached the edge of the water and began poking at the nearest corpse, finally maneuvering it close enough that she could pull it ashore. It was one of the twins. Her hair decorations had come out, so she couldn't tell which one it was. Madoka took up the stick again and went after another.

Fuuka, Fumika, Chizuru, Natsumi, Ako…she could see others further out in the lake; she recognized the distinctive pink shade of Makie's hair. It was just too much. Madoka dropped the stick and began to walk back the way she had come, back into the city.

"Wait, Madoka!" Misa cried out.

Madoka paused for a moment, but kept her back to her friends, not saying anything.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find whoever did this," she said quietly as she continued walking.

Misa looked back at the library, then at her friend's retreating back. "Come on, Madoka, this isn't funny!"

Sakurako looked at Misa, then headed off after Madoka, her expression distant and more than a little sad. "Come on Misa, let's go."

She looked on helplessly as her friends went back into the lion's den and hesitated. She looked back at the Library Island, thought of the safety there, and then glanced back at her friends as they walked away. This was ridiculous! They were all just kids, they shouldn't have to face something like this!

After one last wishful gaze at the library, she ran to catch up with them.

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Kaede made herself disappear behind a car and waited for Arvel's approach. The man was a strong mage, that was for sure. But while he may have power, he was not up to Kaede's level in hand to hand combat or speed.

How had this man managed to get Mana-dono with this level of skill?

She leaped out and threw half a dozen shuriken before he vaporized the clone.

"Get out here! Come out and fight like a man!" he shouted, grinning at his attempt to be clever even through his frustration at killing only clones, over and over.

Kaede let out a small, humorless smile. Arvel was getting frustrated, that was very good. She retreated into the shadows and went at him from a dozen directions at once, her clones masking her approach. The man let out a huge ring of fire, and she leapt over it, pegging him in the shoulder with a kunai before she disappeared again. He was shouting and yelling at her now, promising all sorts of vile things that he would do when he finally caught her. Kaede ignored the man's ranting and continued driving him into her trap.

She would make him pay for what he did to Mana-dono.

77777777

At one point in their stealthy advance toward the school, Negi's group paused to get their bearings in Mahora's maze of sidestreets and backalleys. While Negi pondered over a map of the city, Asuna decided to strike up a conversation with Setsuna. The three of them, Asuna, Setsuna, and Konoka, had rejoined Negi's group a few moments before.

"I know Max-sensei said these people are experienced, but how did they manage to do _this_?" she asked, making sweeping her arm to indicate the damage throughout the city. Most of the city was untouched, true, but one could track Arvel's zigzagging progress easily through Mahora by the fires and general destruction.

"It's one strong guy moving quick and hitting things wherever he feels like it," Kotarou said before Setsuna could answer. "From what that Max-jii-san said, they've been doing this sorta thing for years."

"'Max-jii-san…' Asuna said, her face threatening to crack a smile at the thought of saying that to the teacher's face.

"Yes," Setsuna said suddenly, her face becoming deadly serious and more than a little angry. "With Takamichi-sensei in Kyoto, Tatsumiya-san missing, and Touko-sensei badly injured, there are few remaining with sufficient combat experience to undertake a successful defense of the city against someone like this Arvel-san. Most of the mage teachers simply aren't suited for this sort of thing, and the first priority would be evacuating the citizens—Gah! Ojou-sama what are you doing?" she exclaimed as Konoka hugged her tight and buried her face in the swordsgirl's neck.

Konoka turned her head to face the half-demon and let loose with her most powerful teary-eyed gaze…and made a squeaky sound.

"O-o-ojou-sama…!" Unable to resist such a high level of the concentrated essence of unbearable cuteness, Setsuna straightened perceptibly, her face blazing red. "I won't let them hurt you, ojou-sama, I swear it!"

"I don't want to see you make that face anymore," the Konoe heir mumbled, her face again buried in the other girl's neck. Setsuna shivered at the feel of the other girl's breath and was on the verge of begging her to stop when Negi rolled up the map and gathered his troops.

"Ok, everyone, let's go."

88888888

Kaede put a hasty bandage over a burn on her arm and slipped into an adjacent building. She had slipped up again and let her emotions get the better of her. Because of that, she had wasted too much time and Arvel had burned her with a near hit from a fireball. Shrapnel and molten metal had pelted her, and only sharp reflexes had saved her from a disfigured face or losing sight in one eye. But it didn't matter, he had been pushed to the site of the trap.

And without further ado, she set it off.

The magic ropes dropped like a net and Arvel found himself trapped, his arms pinned uselessly to his sides by the powerful binding spell with two dozen Kunai flying at him. He managed to dodge three of them by jerking around wildly, but the others pierced his skin from every angle, turning him into a human pincushion. So there he stood, trapped and screaming obscenities there in the street, held in place by magic bindings and bleeding from twenty-odd wounds. There must have been something on the blades too, since he could feel his skin burning where he had been pierced. Already it seemed as though fire were racing through his veins, and he screamed in pain for the first time in many years.

Kaede strolled out and stood well out of range in front of him, hands on hips, just waiting. She drew another blade for each hand and stood there, watching.

"I hate you! I'm going to kill you when I get out of this! I'm gonna burn you up! I'll burn you like I did that other girl! YOU'RE GONNA DIE!" he screamed at the top of his lungs at the young ninja before him, rage driving out all rational thought. He built his power to ridiculous levels and got ready to release it in a blast that he thought would surely take out the ninja.

He never saw what came at him from his right.

Madoka's fist hit Arvel's head so hard and fast it was nearly torn off his neck even as his power released in a huge fireball around him. As it was, he was forcibly ripped from his bindings and thrown into the side of a building, where he lay in a quivering heap. A blue sort of blurriness shimmered around Madoka as the fire enveloped the two of them, but the cheerleader didn't even notice, nor did she give the mage any time and was on him in an instant even as her clothing began to burn around the edges, pounding his face repeatedly and throwing off Kaede when she tried to pull her off.

"You killed them, you killed them, you killed them," she screamed, punctuating each word with a rapid fire punch while her friends did everything they could to stop her, now that the fire had dissipated. Kaede, deciding to spare Madoka from carrying the weight of a taken life, made a quick strike to the back of her head, rendering her unconscious. She dragged her off of the mage and checked his vital signs. Weak, but present. Somehow, Madoka's punches had been powerful enough to defeat his shields and tear him loose from some very high-level bindings. She realized with a start that she had just stopped Madoka-dono from doing what she herself had been planning mere seconds before. Kaede sighed, her aches and pains finally starting to catch up to her; there was no time to rest, however, many things still needed to be done.

Misa looked as though she wanted to say something, but she stopped at the last moment. "Thank you," she murmured after a moment, and Kaede responded with her usual smile, which seemed to have returned without her realizing it. She took out a small bag and stuffed Arvel into it.

"It seems that there is more to Madoka-dono than one might think, de gozaru," she said, pocketing the bag and picking up the unconscious cheerleader. "Let's go to Library Island, it should be safe there, de gozaru."

"H-how did she do that thing with the bag?" Misa asked, thoroughly confused and not quite sure she wasn't dreaming by this point. Sakurako just shook her head.

"I think it's better to just pretend we didn't see it."

99999999

"Guy! What is the meaning of this?" Marshall bellowed when Guy returned to the Headmaster's office again.

"What is it?"

"These bodies you brought me are fake! See, they're coming apart," he said, gesturing wildly at the weird looking bodies lined up on the floor along one wall. Even as Guy looked at them, one deflated with an amusing whistling noise.

"So it was a diversion," he said after a moment, looking at the water elemental and the other girl he had brought in. The elemental looked relieved while the other girl's face was scrunched up in a mix of confusion and anger. She was sort of cute, like a puppy.

10101010

_Minutes ago, just after the massacre at the Bridge to Library Island and before the cheerleaders arrived…_

"Is he gone?" Kazumi asked.

One of the guys from the martial arts club replied. "Yeah, it worked perfectly, looks like we won't need the submarine." They had picked him up not five minutes before, while on their way here.

"A submarine?" Ayaka asked. She was not aware of any working submarine on campus—

"Y-yeah! A submarine! The Library Exploration Committee commissioned a small one to aid in our explorations of the lake!" Haruna explained rapidly as she flipped her sketchbook artifact shut, hiding the highly detailed submarine picture she had just been putting the finishing touches on seconds before.

"Something strange is going on here," Ayaka stated, cutting off Haruna before she could say any more. "How was that man flying, and why did he attack those copies? And for that matter, what _were_ those copies? And how did he knock them into the lake? I didn't see him touch them—"

"Don't worry about it, Iincho," Kazumi said casually, interrupting the girl mid rant, just as class rep had done to Haruna. "It was probably just a jetpack anyway, you know how technology is," the girl said as if it was common to see people flying. 'Well, this IS Mahora, after all,' she added mentally. 'Isn't _that_ the truth.'

"And besides, the copies were robots like Chachamaru-san," Haruna added, hoping that the girl would just shut up and stop asking questions. She had a sudden bit of inspiration, so she expanded on the lie. "We had the robotics club make them as part of a surprise for the class, but…it's too bad they had to be destroyed like that. Oh well, that's terrorism for you," she said as she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head in a 'what can you do?' sort of way. She prayed to every deity, spirit, and questionable otherworldly being she knew of that Iincho wouldn't think to ask how the 'robots' had been here at the perfect time, or how a terrorist had managed to get his hands on a working jetpack, or why there were so many lucky coincidences all coming together at once. Luckily, Kazumi took over and led the group to a better staging area that was closer to the bridge.

"We'd better hurry, those fake bodies will only last fifteen minutes or so before they come apart," Haruna warned Kazumi in a whisper as the group came out of hiding and approached the bridge at a trot. "It's too bad we can't use the submarine though, I spent a lot of time drawing that…" The crossing was made in near silence except for a yelp from Ako as she spotted her dead doppelganger floating in the water. Iincho remained grimly silent as she ran past the fake, floating bodies of her friends and fellow classmates.

'They're only bodies, they're not even real,' Kazumi thought to herself as she ran. 'Sure it might be weird to see yourself floating dead in the water, but everyone's overreacting a bit…'

Everyone made it across and the mage teachers opened the doors of the library for them. Kazumi and Iincho were the last ones through, having made sure everyone made it across safely.

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"Haruna-san says everyone is safe at Library Island," Negi said, putting the pactio card back in his pocket with the others. He had calmed down quite a bit from his earlier rage. Now he simply looked determined.

"That's great!" Asuna declared. "So is anyone still missing?"

"That just leaves the cheerleaders and Yuuna-san, I believe," Setsuna said. "And the ones we left here when we went to Kyoto."

"So how are they? Were they at the library?" Asuna asked Negi.

"Haruna-san doesn't know," he said after a moment. "There are almost a thousand people there and there are several groups in other safe places as well, so there's no way of finding out right now," he said worriedly.

"Well, let's go then. No sense in waiting here."

12121212

Yue and Nodoka reached the plaza that lead to the bridge to Library Island and paused. It looked as though there were several bodies on the edge of the lake and in the water. After making sure there were no enemies around, Yue approached the scene and was relieved to recognize what the 'bodies' actually were. Obviously some of Haruna's golems, though by the looks of things, someone had come here, probably only moments before, and pulled several of them from the water. They were only now beginning to deteriorate, so whoever took them from the water probably thought they were the real thing. She just hoped that whoever had seen them had realized the truth of the matter before they did anything stupid. She wondered briefly why Haruna had bothered to create them in the first place and then drown them but shrugged it off, as they had more important things to worry about right now.

She and Nodoka made their way across the bridge and were welcomed into the building.

13131313

When Kaede's group finally arrived at the bridge to Library Island, Sakurako and Misa looked at the bodies Madoka had fished out earlier in surprise. They looked very misshapen and almost…cartoonish.

"What happened? They're all weird!" Misa exclaimed.

Kaede knelt down, carefully maneuvering Madoka to keep her from falling. "Haruna's golems, de gozaru." She poked one of them and it deflated. "See?"

"Golems?" Sakurako muttered as she considered the foreign word. "They're fake?" Kaede nodded and relief surged over Sakurako and Misa's faces.

"They're fake, they're fake!" Misa shouted. "You hear that, Madoka? They're fake!" Madoka was too unconscious to take notice, however.

"Go on ahead, I have other things to take care of," Kaede said, passing the small bag to Sakurako. She helped the cheerleaders make a simple stretcher out of two long pieces of wood and a curtain, and sent them off across the bridge. When they were safe on the other side, she turned around and headed back into the city.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Bag of Holding, or ninja trick? Poor, poor Mana-san. And Kaede. And Madoka, she must be as exhausted as Kaede. Can't say Arvel didn't deserve it, though. Man, I really picked on a lot of people in this chapter. Anyway, how about that Madoka, huh? She's really strong.


	20. Chapter 20

**Still Waters Run Deep**: Ride the Lightning

* * *

Negi entered the plaza in front of the school and stopped, his friends gathering around him. Before him, on the other side of the clearing, stood Guy Sculler, the wind elemental.

Kotarou and Ku Fei leapt forward, followed quickly by Asuna and Setsuna while Negi held back, chanting a spell.

Guy swept his hand through the space in front of him, and the four fighters were blown aside like leaves. The wind elemental leaped through the newly created opening toward Negi, who was forced to drop his spell and defend himself. Negi blocked the first few strikes, then jumped back in time to avoid a vicious kick. Guy didn't give him any time however, and followed that with a quick, circular motion with his hand, calling up a whirlwind that sent the child teacher flying.

Luckily, Kotarou regained his footing and attacked with his shadow clones from behind, distracting Guy enough to let Negi slip away to prepare for another attack.

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Mana dragged the heavy rifle behind her, painfully climbing up the stairwell. *clunk*clunk* It was slow going, and she had to stop every few steps to catch her breath. She was in severe pain, but she had a job to do, and she didn't want to fail again; she had done enough of _that_ for one day. *clunk* She looked through a window and watched the fight between Guy and Negi with a vague sort of disinterest for a moment before continuing up the stairs. *clunk* She really should stop dragging the rifle, the butt was banging on every stair. *clunk*clunk*clunk* She decided she really couldn't be bothered, though. *clunk*

22222222

Guy was everywhere, moving fast as the wind, almost playing with the boy and his allies. Negi was outmatched in every way, Guy was just too fast and too experienced, with a ridiculous amount of power. Now, if Negi had been secretly training with some perverted old man in a fantasy world for the past month things may have been different, but Guy was just too much for the current Negi to deal with.

Unfortunately, this realization almost came too late for Negi. He had worked his power levels up using every trick he knew and several he made up on the spot, incanted his most powerful spell and let Guy have it with everything he had. 'I have to beat him, I have too!' he shouted in his mind, pouring every last ounce of power into the spell.

It was a real piece of work, a thing of beauty. Multilayered, multi-element, all sorts of power boosting bits here and there, wrapped up in a nice shiny package. There was even a bit of Eva's flare of style in it.

It failed, the effect disrupted and swirled around by Guy's wind barriers, resulting in a hit with only a little more power than a single magic arrow.

"Now that was impressive," the wind elemental said after brushing off the attack. "No one but Linell has ever pierced my wind barriers. If that had hit me even at half force, it might have killed me. Congratulations, well done." Negi looked around for his friends, but they were nowhere in sight, probably buried in the rubble of nearby buildings or in the woods. He hoped they were ok.

"You truly are the son of the Thousand Master," Guy said approvingly. "The problem, however, is that you're still ten years old." And he drove a blade made of wind through the child's shoulder.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHhhhhhh!"

"Now that's a nice sound," Guy growled as he threw Negi off to the right somewhere like a piece of trash and headed for the front door of the building behind him.

"Wait a minute, you're not done yet," a familiar voice shouted from across the plaza.

Guy paused and turned around with a smirk on his face. "Well well, Max has finally decided to show his—"

The punch sent him flying, and Max followed right after, fire everywhere as he sought to overwhelm the wind user as quickly as possible.

"I'm not like the kid!" Max shouted as he pounded the other man with his fists, driving him back.

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As the fight between Max and Guy moved away, Kaede appeared, scooped up Negi, and quickly disappeared, bringing him to Konoka. She had already brought the other four, and now they all sat around tiredly, their wounds mostly healed by the long haired girl.

Konoka used the powers of her card to heal the child teacher, then looked up at Kaede, tired from the effort of healing so many people. "Kaede-san, do you think Max-sensei can beat him?" She eyed the various bandages the ninja girl wore with disapproval as she waited for an answer.

"I don't know, Konoka-dono. But he knows the man, and should be able to do something, de gozaru."

44444444

"DIE!" Max screamed at him as he sent out a flare of elemental fire that would have vaporized any normal mage. Guy responded by blowing the wind full force back at Max, whipping the flare into what amounted to an explosion of flame and blowing it back at him. Max shrugged the fire off and kept after the other man.

"You're slow! You're always so slow!" Guy shrieked as he tried to blow his opponent away. It didn't work. Max had always been bigger and stronger, and Guy had always resented that, even more so after his final growth spurt ended and he found he was still shorter than the other man. Since he couldn't beat the fire elemental in pure power, he had been forced to physically train himself for speed, and it seemed to have worked quite well for the past few years, and hopefully today as well.

Max, needing an edge, fished something out of his pocket. The grin he sent Guy would have sent many a man running for his life, but it only served to make Guy angrier.

Max held up the card and spoke the command word. "Adeat."

Guy growled and flew up into the air and out of range.

The swords Max held were rather oddly shaped; those who saw them and survived described them as 'put together backwards' due to the odd downward slope of the blade. Those who knew of such things would have recognized the shape as similar to the khukri or the falcata, a blade suited perfectly for chopping. These heavier, magical blades were likely better for lopping off an arm or a head, however, and Guy knew that they had done both, at one time or another.

Guy darted downward in imitation of a hawk diving at its prey, only to be forced to dodge a massive sagitta magica at point-blank range, no small feat in and of itself. Forced to the ground, he pulled a blade of wind out of the air to ward off Max's attacks. Max's first attack nearly took the wind elemental's head off before he could finish his blade, but the second was parried as Guy danced around the bigger man, avoiding his blows by mere inches as he tried to find a chance to counter. He barely managed to fend off a vicious blow that broke his concentration enough for his wind sword to disintegrate, but Max had left himself wide open. Guy struck the other man's chest with both hands, a double palm strike with the force of a tornado behind it. Max went flying and lost his grip on the artifact swords, and Guy, with his superior speed, was on him in an instant.

Max was up in almost the same instant, and then suddenly they were standing face to face, going toe to toe with magically enhanced fists, pounding each other to smithereens right there in front of the school. Skill and rational thought were lost, and they were reduced to two animals fighting for control. Max was bigger and slower than his opponent, but his punches were that much more powerful. While Guy was quicker and more lithe, every punch that hit rocked him and he almost went down several times. The wind was whipping around them, and the fire and smoke hid their forms from any who dared to watch. Then Guy kicked Max in the leg and pushed him hard to the ground. Max was quickly up again on one knee, grappling with the other man and trying to force him into one of those wrestling holds he was so fond of.

Guy kneed him in the face and knocked him back, but Max was up again before he could capitalize. Max threw a wild uppercut that rocked Guy and almost sent him down, and followed it up with a series of punches to the man's badly bruised stomach, causing him to double over in pain. Max tried to drive an elbow into the back of the other man's head, but Guy took a chance and charged the fire-user, driving him off balance and pounding him into the ground with all the force he could muster. Max grunted with the impact, and Guy grabbed him by the neck and smashed his head repeatedly into the pavement under them until he stopped moving.

Guy let go of Max's neck and struggled to his feet, absently wiping the blood that trailed from his mouth and nose. It combined with the mud on his hand into a dark smear. He was so dazed that he barely even heard the clapping.

"Oh ho, well done, wind-boy. That's one job I won't have to do myself, now."

Guy tried to wipe the sweat and blood from his eyes, but only succeeded in smearing it. "What, who's there?" he asked through a fat lip. His head was still ringing from the pounding Max had given him, and he felt uncharacteristically slow witted and dull. He wandered over to a nearby fountain that had been destroyed earlier and thrust his face into the spray shooting up from a broken pipe, then used the remains of his shirt to wipe his face clean and grimacing at the pain it brought.

"You can see me now, right?" It was a little blonde girl. He vaguely recognized her from an old wanted poster he had seen back at HQ a long time ago. There was also some sort of…robot girl standing behind her.

"Evangeline A.K. Mcdowell," he said slowly. "You're supposed to be dead."

She 'hmph'ed and tossed her hair back. "You're in my way. Where is your leader?"

He just looked at her blankly. She couldn't actually be _that_ strong, could she? Sure, they all said she was a vampire, but the last of the vampires had supposedly been killed over a hundred years ago.

"Get out of my way," he said, his strength slowly returning…this must be his second wind. She stood between him and the building that had been his objective.

Eva grinned, and it sent shivers down his spine. This was bad. This was really bad.

He tried to defend himself, he really tried.

"Lic Lac La Lac Lilac."

He managed to send a few sub-par whirlwinds straight at her, but they had no effect. He followed that up with a complicated wind cage that also failed, and finally resorted to blind power as he tried to crush her with air pressure. The only effect was a widening of her grin and the robot behind her setting herself as if carrying a heavy load. Guy, exhausted and hurt from the fight with Max, started to panic as the strength of the spell wavered…not that he would have had much of a chance even if he were fresh and at full power.

She muttered a short incantation ending with the word "Icepack!" And then Guy was encased in ice, unable to move, unable to breathe, barely able to think. He was dimly aware of the girl grinning hugely and evilly and an unyielding, unrelenting terror that quickly grew in his heart.

"Break."

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Marshall was frantic as he backed away from the window and the scene outside. He knew all about the Dark Evangel, and what she was capable of. Marlin and Nil had been gone for a long time; the vampire had probably gotten them already. He quickly sent some vines to wrap around Akira and Yuuna and tried to figure out what to do next. There was still a way out, there had to be a way out. He wasn't willing to let go of the water elemental, she was too valuable for his plans, but he had no problem trading away the other girl or sacrificing her, if needs be. What else were hostages for?

He hurried out into the hall, leading his two hostages and looking around frantically for a back way out, so he wouldn't have to face that ridiculously powerful vampire that was likely hunting for him even now.

He dragged Akira and Yuuna through several hallways and stairwells and finally through a back door that led to the athletic field. Marshall darted across the field, surprisingly agile for a man his size, and made his way into the woods, where he quickly lost his way. He blundered about, chased by flitting shapes and Eva's taunting laughter, until finally making his way out and into a wide shop-lined plaza with an enormous tree in the center.

"A world tree? Here?" he said to himself. "Excellent." He had no idea how it was that he had not heard anything about the presence of a tree like this on campus. He had seen it of course, one would have to be blind to miss the enormous tree that dominated the town. It just hadn't registered, he had had other things on his mind, after all. In any case, it was a very fortuitous thing…he could absorb the tree's power and use it against the vampire. Wood wasn't particularly weak against darkness, and with this tree's power in addition to his own, he might be able to hold her off long enough to—

It was a particularly powerful Sagita Magica. He couldn't see how many arrows there were, but it must have been several dozen at least, probably more. He used the vines to yank a protesting Yuuna in front of him, and Eva gave a grunt and deflected the spell so it wouldn't hit the hostage.

"You shouldn't do that, you know," she said with an annoyed tone as Chachamaru flew up to her.

"Shall I shoot, Master?"

"No, they said 'no casualties'," Eva replied in an annoyed tone. The two of them had accompanied the headmaster to library island at the beginning of the attack earlier in the day as a precaution, and had stayed there with him until he could figure out a temporary workaround for Eva's curse. She couldn't accomplish much in such a situation without even the basic ability to fly, after all. What had been done for the Kyoto trip wouldn't work, as this wasn't a field trip. The old man had eventually worked out an 'In Defense of School and Fellow Student' clause, and had been able to grant her fifteen minutes at two thirds of her full power. It wasn't what she had wanted, but it would do. These fools that had attacked Mahora…they annoyed her.

Marshall caught the look on the vampire's face and started sweating as he hid behind the hostage even more.

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*clunk*clunk*clunk*

She was almost there. The rifle was heavy, unbelievably heavy, but she was almost there. Just a few more steps.

*clunk*clunk*

Almost there.

*clunk*clunk*clunk*draaag*

She was there, she was finally there. She stumbled over to the edge and looked out through the window, her vision hazy. She could see them facing each other out by the world tree. It was a long shot, but not impossible. She propped the long rifle on the window sill and started working out her shot.

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He was frantic with worry and fear, the adrenaline and power pouring into his system completely upsetting his mental balance.

He was drinking up the world tree.

Akira watched with a sort of distant curiousity as the vines tightened around her and restricted the blood flow to her brain even more. The fat man was drinking in the power of the world tree and Eva-san was looking at her and frowning. She seemed to be expecting something from Akira. Akira turned her head hazily to Yuuna to ask her opinion and was surprised to see the girl's face turning blue from a lack of air as she struggled with the tightly wrapped vines, her arms and legs pinned tightly together.

"…you're hurting her…" Akira said distantly. The fat man didn't seem to hear her, so she repeated herself. "You're hurting her."

"What?" he asked as he turned to look at her, the insanity in his eyes now clear for the whole world to see. She tried to struggle out of the vine's tight grip, but he shook both girls fiercely for a moment, loosening those around Yuuna enough for the girl to get her breath back.

"You're trying to fight back? You can't do that! You have to stay with me, and we'll raise lots of elementals until we've got a whole army," he said, an odd edge in his lilting voice. "Heheheheheheh, an army! It will be so fun, with you and me and all the little mes!" The man was without a doubt completely insane. "It won't be like it was with that girl in Pakistan or the one in Mexico or the one in Utah, not at all! I know you won't betray me, because then I'd have to kill you too, and that would be just awful," he said, the mournful overtones not quite overriding the glee in his voice. "They say there is land for the taking in Mundus Magicus, that anyone with the resources can take what they want and carve out a kingdom for themselves. We'll be like the kings of old, making a name for ourselves with nothing but a sword and an army!"

His rambling trailed off after a moment when he saw her looking at Yuuna. He grinned toothily as he made the vines constrict spasmodically around the basketball player, eliciting pained squeaks from her with each tightening.

"Damn you girl, do something about him!" Eva shouted at Akira.

"Heheheee," Marshall laughed as the vines around Yuuna tightened so hard that popping sounds could plainly be heard in the otherwise still air as she let out a high pitched squealing shriek that went on for only a few seconds until she was out of breath.

Akira tried to scream, tried to beg the madman to stop and let Yuuna go, but her breath was again forced out as the vines tightened painfully around her chest and stomach. Instead, Marshall tilted his head to look deviously at her, and made a face so freakishly insane in its mix of glee and sheer animal cunning that it even gave Evangeline pause.

"I always wanted to do this," he said excitedly, thoroughly drunk on the power of the world tree, and suddenly thorns exploded from the vines holding Yuuna.

Akira watched as the blood poured out between the vines and around Yuuna's feet, distantly heard a shout from Eva-san, and watched in dull horror as the wide-eyed Yuuna was unceremoniously dropped to the ground. The poor girl looked _squished_, and there were holes and blood, and she was curling up on the ground, making horrible little mewling sounds like those a newborn kitten sometimes made…

And then Akira broke.

'_Max-sensei, Yuuna, everyone…I'm sorry…'_

_She fell into the blue._

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With a horrified moan of disbelief and mental agony that quickly changed to a roar of rage that sent even Eva scrambling back, Akira tore loose from the fat man's vines, exploding forth with a level of power that seemed all but impossible to Marshall.

"No…no!" he said, unwilling to believe what he was seeing; it was enough to jolt him back to reality, albeit temporarily.

"YOU KILLED YUUNA," she said in an eerily deep voice as she slowly floated up into the air. It was as if it were the voice of the world itself.

"N…no…" he tried to explain. This was bad, this wasn't part of the plan, he hadn't expected her to become this…this monster, hadn't even known it was possible.

"YOU KILLED YUUNA, SHE WAS MINE! MAX, NEGI, THEY'RE ALL MINE!" Akira's eyes were an eerie glowing blue rather than their usual brown now. She lifted her arms high in the air and a bubble of water formed. "YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM!" Suddenly the very air roared with the sound of moisture being forcibly ripped out and he screamed as he realized what she was doing as the blue glow from her eyes spread to cover her whole body.

Her hand was shaking too much, so she propped the rifle between two bricks, slowly maneuvering it until it was just right. She sighted on her target, took a deep breath and let it out, then took another, held it for a moment, and slowly let it out as she squeezed the trigger.

"No! You can't do that!" Marshall screamed in a high pitched voice as he used his power and manipulated the world tree itself. "You stupid girl, you're still too young! I can still stop you!" Huge roots burst from the ground as the world tree shuddered under the man's attempts to control it. The noise was so great that he didn't even hear the first gunshot, didn't notice the dust kicked up at his feet. The impact from the second shot a few seconds later stopped him in his tracks as he approached Akira at a trot however, and the third hit home and knocked him to the ground as he felt the world tree pull back of its own accord the instant his control weakened.

_The world tree itself was rejecting him._

"No!" There was still time, there had to be. He looked up at Akira and tried to stand in spite of the burning agony of the bullets lodged in his gut. She was no different from the others, after all. Another traitor! He would have to teach her a lesson, he had enough time.

Only, there was no more time.

_I'm sorry._

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Guy woke up suddenly with a jerk to find himself staring up at the sun with a distant roaring in his ears. He hurt all over, it was an agony to get back to his feet, but somehow he managed; it took a moment for him to recall what had happened. He was so cold... The ice. That Eva witch was just as strong as the stories said she was. Stronger, even. He had to tell Marshall, warn him about—

"…I'm…still alive…" came a ragged voice from behind him.

Guy turned around just in time to take the points of both swords in the stomach as Max drove them in halfway to the hilt.

"This…this one's for Rikki," Max said, twisting one blade so the sharp edge faced to the right, drawing a screech of agony from the wind elemental as he scrabbled at the blades in his midsection with hands slick with blood. _She was smiling at him, trying to hide the tears and agony in her eyes for his sake while her guts lay cooling on the ground beside her, the piece of wreckage that Guy had sent through her covered in her blood and embedded in the brick wall a short distance away. _

"This one's for Akira," the big man said, twisting the other blade so the edge faced left and drawing an agonized sob from the wind elemental as his strength finally fled and his legs tried to collapse as his life's blood flowed. Max wouldn't allow the man to fall however, not yet. _Akira, looking at him in wonder as she realized that yes, it really _was _all true, magic really _did _exist, and she could use it at will. Akira looking at him with panic in her eyes when Guy appeared and grabbed her from behind back at the bus stop. _

"And this is for all the innocent people you've killed," Max said as he ripped the blades in opposite directions.

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Eva took off flying and cursing under her breath to avoid the coming destruction, but Marshall had no such option. He could only watch in stunned silence as Akira gathered the water, all the water, and packed it into the huge sphere that she held above her head.

"YOU KILLED YUUNA, SHE BELONGED TO ME!" she said again, and he felt his own body begin to respond with a terrifying pull that seemed to come from all over.

"Nnnooo…" he whined, and then screamed as his cells began to come apart, adding their water to the sphere the girl was building. "Nooo! AAaahh, AAARRGGHH!" He fell on the ground, his legs no longer able to support him, thrashing wilding as he clutched at his heart as it raced erratically. "Nnooo! No! No! Nooo!" Normally, wood magic was superior to water magic, but the difference between their levels…it was just too much. How do you kill a tree? Throw a river at it.

The sphere was so dense that it had taken on a dark blue, almost blackish hue. He screamed even more loudly as the water left his body and she let the sphere go, her terrifying blue eyes locked onto his own and then the rush of water was everything, it was the only thing, and he knew no more but a mind-shattering agony.

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Up in the ruined clocktower, Mana collapsed. She had done what she could to keep Marshall from succeeding. Now what remained would be left up to fate. She rolled painfully over onto her back and looked up at the sky through the fragmented roof, marveling at how blue it was today. She raised one arm, reaching weakly for a lone cloud that floated past as her breathing became more ragged. It was…sort of pretty, she supposed. She had never really had time to look at clouds before. She followed it with her eyes as the water distantly roared around her. She felt the tower lurch once, twice, then it seemed as though she were falling and then suddenly under the water, looking up through a wall of it, and things slowly became dark as she sank deeper and deeper. She had a brief glimpse of a familiar robotic form diving in after her, and then everything faded.

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_Everyone, I'm sorry._

_So blue…_


	21. Chapter 21

**Still Waters Run Deep**: And the Wind Cries Mary

* * *

Eva watched the carnage unfold from her position floating far above. Honestly, she had had no idea Okochi Akira had been so strong. She had known the girl was unusual from the start, but this… She watched as the girl released the enormous sphere of water, which ballooned out to a ridiculous degree upon contact with the ground. "Chachamaru, check for survivors. I saw someone moving in that clocktower to the east," she added as the water continued to expand and envelop the old tower. She watched Chachamaru fly off, then turned back to see if she could find the water elemental anywhere. She didn't know what the girl had done to the water, but it had finally stopped expanding. However, rather than running off as she had expected, it seemed to be at least semi-solid, and remained in a vague sort of cone shape, not unlike a very old volcano, or a ball of bread dough that has been dropped onto a table.

The coverage was enormous. The mountain of gelatinous water was almost a mile across, and maybe three hundred feet tall at its highest point in the center. She could see buildings poking up out of it here and there where they had not been destroyed by the enormous stresses put upon them. It looked as though someone had dropped an enormous blue lump of jello into the center of Mahora…the image was surreal.

And finally, she spotted her. A tiny bit of blue, almost lost in the expanse below it. She approached cautiously, but the elemental didn't seem to notice her until she was within hailing distance.

The blue being that looked like Okochi Akira turned around and regarded Eva solemnly. "YUUNA IS DEAD," it said in its deep voice. "YUUNA IS DEAD." Its eyes were eerily bright, almost white, and Eva realized she could see the shapes of buildings through its body. Something like this would be hard to defeat if it became hostile. Not impossible, but hard to defeat without killing.

"You are Okochi Akira, correct?" Eva asked, unsure where to begin. She had never been one for delicate work like this. Her usual M.O. was to drive enemies to attack, not talk them down.

"OKOCHI AKIRA," it repeated. "OKOCHI AKIRA IS SLEEPING." It turned around again as if to survey the destruction.

Well now, at least she knew who was in charge now. Or rather, who was not. "Who are you?"

It turned to regard her again. "I AM WATER."

Eva felt the urge to just blast the thing out of the sky, but forced herself to continue. "I want to speak to Okochi Akira," she demanded.

The thing shook its head in response. "OKOCHI AKIRA IS SLEEPING."

"Well wake her up then!"

"O-OKOCHI AKIRA WILL SLEEP FOREVER." It turned straight toward Eva and advanced slowly.

Eva frowned and prepared a spell, only to be distracted by a growing spot of bright light deep in the expanse of water below. A vague sense she had all but forgotten in her years of confinement suddenly caught her attention as the light faded: she could feel the mages, all of them. Or at least, those who were unshielded against such things. 'That would be the Konoe girl,' she thought. Then another familiar sensation caught her attention.

"Akashi Yuuna is alive," she said in genuine surprise. She had been sure the girl was dead…no human could have survived such a thing, not without divine intervention, or something like it.

"YUUNA IS ALIVE…?" It stopped its advance and seemed confused.

A pulsing flare of energy, wavery and weak but still present, niggled at the back of Eva's mind. "That Max is alive too," she added with something akin to wonder. That had been another one she was sure would die. The back of his head had been all but opened up when that air mage pounded it into the parking lot.

"MAX IS ALIVE…MAX IS MINE." It started approaching again, and Eva backed up to keep sufficient space between them. She was no prideful fool, to let a dangerous enemy get within striking distance so easily. The thing was emitting an aura of danger now. 'Apparently I should have kept that bit of information about the fire elemental to myself,' she thought.

"You can have him, I don't want him," she spat. The thing stopped its advance again, apparently sensing the truth in her words. And why not? It was true, after all. All Eva wanted from the fire elemental was for him to stay far away from her. She grimaced and cursed internally. The boy…he would owe her big time for this. He wouldn't be getting away with just a sip of blood this time, not if she had anything to say about it.

"Why don't you release the water down there?" Eva asked.

"N-NO."

'That was odd,' Eva thought. It had stuttered when she told it to wake Okochi Akira, too. Something made her recall an incident at the start of the year during her conflict with the boy, and an evil grin slipped onto her face. She had sucked blood from that Sasaki Makie first, and then used her to turn the other three into half vampires in the baths during the blackout. It had just been a trick meant to test the boy, and she hadn't thought of that incident again since it happened, but apparently some trace still remained within this girl. Perhaps the return of Eva's abilities had triggered it? This required some experimentation.

"Stop your advance!" Eva ordered. It obeyed shakily.

"N-"

"Wake up Okochi Akira!"

"NNNNNNNN…!" It began thrashing wildly back and forth as its hands gripped its head, and an odd bellowy noise sort of like someone with acromegaly moaning into a barrel filled the air. "NNNNOOO…!"

Its body began to shimmer oddly, splotches of it becoming more solid and then liquefying again.

"Okochi Akira! I order you as your master to wake up!" Eva shouted in the thing's face.

The thing suddenly stopped in mid-thrash, frozen in place. An eerie screech filled the air and in a massive burst of pressure, it seemed to explode and Akira was left there naked in the air before her, eyes wide and unseeing, still glowing blue as she fell from the sky and disappeared into the water below before Eva could catch her.

Eva felt her power start to waver and quickly flew down to a nearby rooftop, lest she join the girl in the water. It seemed her fifteen minutes of freedom were up. She sighed as her power left her, and settled down in the shade of the roof exit door to get her bearings. She felt incredibly weak now that she had been resealed…she had forgotten about that aspect of the sudden loss of power. Shortly thereafter, Chachamaru found her sitting there and carried her down to ground level.

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Max gasped and his eyes shot open. The last thing he remembered was ripping Guy Sculler apart. Now he seemed to be…underwater? A quick glance around showed that he was in a dry bubble in a world of water. It took another moment to realize the ground under him was a paved section of parking lot. There seemed to enough air to last several hours if he didn't push himself, so he sat down and tried to relax and pace his breathing, as there was nothing else he could do for now. Thinking about it, there was only one person he knew who would be even remotely capable of such a thing, so he set that aside and began doing what he could about his wounds. With the utmost care, he gently probed the back of his head with his good hand. Bloody, but it didn't feel as though anything was out of place or broken back there. He could only vaguely recall what had happened, but he knew Guy Sculler was dead. He had put up one hell of a fight, however.

"At least I'm alive," he said to himself as he moved to a more comfortable reclining position. Slowly the details of his fight with Guy came back to him. It could have been worse. It wasn't as if he had been beaten by someone like Arvel, he would never have lived down something like that. An experimental poke at the walls of the bubble revealed a familiar rubbery consistency not unlike what Akira had done several times back in the small valley they had hidden in. Had they really only left the place this morning? It seemed so long ago… Exhausted, he made himself comfortable and looked at the walls of his temporary prison and somehow sensed a gentle, protective feeling, one that brought back peaceful memories of early childhood and a homely brown haired woman who would laugh and coo at him.

With nothing else to do, he lay back and fell asleep as he waited for the water to recede.

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The headmaster looked out over the remains of his city, drowned here and burned there, but overall still intact. The odd mountain of water seemed to be dissolving; the few scouts he had sent out earlier reported that it was slowly oozing through the streets as the mountain shrunk, and chunks taken from it were quickly reduced to plain, ordinary water. It would take some quick work to prevent disastrous water damage, but it could be done if he were quick about it.

"Sir, I have Evangeline's report," a mage teacher said as he approached.

"Thank you."

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When Max woke up again, the water level had dropped enough to expose the top of the air bubble, so he stuck his head out, not knowing what to expect.

It was like looking out at an alien world. The familiar environs of Mahora were completely changed, at least in this area. Everything less substantial than the largest trees or the most solid buildings nearby was flattened, and the water seemed to be oddly hill-shaped and covering a huge area spanning through part of the woods and a large chunk of the middle school campus, not to mention the city itself. The water at his current position was only about six feet deep now, though he could see where it sloped gently upward to a maximum height of maybe fifty feet or more. Even as he looked out, a large section of the mound liquefied with an odd _splurt_ and flowed down the side as water. If anything, the mound was just like the water balls Akira had been making for the past few weeks, only on a frighteningly large scale.

"Hey! Is anyone out there?" someone shouted.

He looked around for the source of the yell and spotted Asuna's sword poking up from the water and waving around.

"Hello," he shouted, wincing painfully as his head began throbbing again. "Is that you, Asuna?"

"Max-sensei? Is anyone else with you?" the girl shouted from her bubble a little further down the slope.

"No, it's just me," he replied.

"Negi's over here!" Asuna shouted.

44444444

As the water receded and exposed more survivors, more heads poked up above the water and Max began to get an idea of where he was and who was around him. He heard Konoka somewhere off to the left, calling frantically for help. The mage teachers were coming now, he could see them wading through the shallower water and flying around above. One of them stopped above him and asked if he needed any help, but he waved her off. There were others here that needed it more, he was sure. Three mages passed directly overhead; he saw them stop perhaps three hundred feet away, where they carefully lifted two people from the water. 'That would be Konoka and Yuuna,' he thought as he watched them. He hoped the girl was ok…even though she had done some stupid things, she had just been trying to help her friend.

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The water receded even more and people began wading through it, astonished at the jelly-like consistency, looking for other survivors and pulling each other to safety. This area of Mahora was a disaster zone as far as Max could tell. But as he watched the determined faces, he knew that they would rebuild. Mahora wasn't just any city after all, and these were not just any people. They had been protected when by all means they should have died, and they wouldn't forget such a thing.

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Marshall's body was recovered the next day. It was so horrifically changed that Max almost didn't recognize the man when he was asked to identify the remains, however. In the end, Marshall had become a shadow of his former self. No one said anything, but it seemed that the man's body had exploded outward and then been crushed under tremendous force, a look of pure and utter horror frozen forever on his face, which was singularly unnaffected.

As forAkira, she was nowhere to be found; Eva had been the last to see the girl. There had been veiled accusations of course, but one glare from the vampire had been enough to clear up most of _that_ business. Nevertheless, the girl had not been found, nor any body recovered.

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It was almost a week later that any semblance of normalcy returned to Mahora. The hospitals were crammed full with the sick and injured, but overall things were getting back to normal. Well, almost normal.

88888888

Max limped out of the taxi and up into the waiting area at the airport. Jennifer was coming, and it wouldn't do to keep her waiting.

He slumped thankfully into a chair and waited. That fight with Guy had really taken a lot out of him; it seemed he wasn't as young as he used to be. A short time later, he heard a familiar voice and opened his eyes to see the person he had been waiting for.

"Max! Max, I heard what happened, are you ok?" The speaker was a somewhat attractive woman, twenty-something, barely five feet tall and a little more than a hundred pounds soaking wet. He struggled to his feet as Jennifer approached.

"I hope you brought enough stuff to stay here for a while," Max said as he held up a hand to slow her approach and bring attention to his arm sling; he had obtained a nice hairline fracture in his ulna or radius, or something like that, he couldn't remember. The woman took one look at his face and made an expression half glare, half pout.

"You did it again, didn't you?" she accused.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Now, let's go—"

"Ok, who did you kiss this time?"

Max sighed. Jennifer knew him far too well, it seemed. He explained hesitantly as they walked to a waiting taxi and rode back to the campus.

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"Yuuna-san will be ok," Negi said as Max approached with Jennifer. "The doctors say she'll need a lot of tests and regular checkups for a while, but she will be ok thanks to Konoka-san. It sure is lucky they ended up together in the water, isn't it?" the boy asked.

Max nodded. He knew it had been no coincidence that Yuuna ended up next to a girl with the potential to be the strongest healer the world had ever seen. Lots of things like that had happened during the hours in which Mahora was underwater, people ending up where they needed to be rather than where they had been…there were far too many to be mere coincidence.

"Who's Yuuna, did you kiss her too?" Jennifer asked accusingly. Max just shook his head resignedly and turned back to Negi.

Negi, this is Jennifer, my mage," he said, gesturing to the woman. "Jennifer, this is Negi. He's a teacher here."

"Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise."

After the pleasantries were complete, Max spoke again. "How about the other injured people?"

"Most of them will be all right."

That was good. Apparently, the only casualties, other than Marshall and Guy Sculler, had died in the initial hours of the attack, when Arvel was destroying everything. Everyone who had been in Library Island would be ok, it seemed. Eva was still grumbling about her power cutting out too early due to the sloppy contract-workaround old Konoemon had worked out, but her fight with Guy, even though it was only seconds long, along with the way she had stopped the out of control water elemental had likely saved a lot of lives, and everyone knew it.

But still…Akira was missing.

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_Everything was blue. It was pretty, she thought, but it wasn't enough. Just not enough. So warm._

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A week passed, then another, and the people of Mahora began to rebuild in earnest.

12121212

Max formed a habit of taking his breaks beside the Library Island Lake, where he stared out across the water. It wasn't as if he could help much with the rebuilding with a broken arm and bruises all over.

13131313

_It was nice, like this. If she stayed this way, nothing could ever hurt her again. She could be here always, and things like homework and worrying about grades didn't seem to matter as much. Nothing mattered as much here, but still, something was missing. _

_An image of sad gray eyes. Why?_

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"Come on, this isn't healthy, Max," Jennifer told him one day as he sat beside the lake.

Max sighed. "I know, I feel like its kinda creepy, too. But I miss her, you know? And this place reminds me of her."

Jennifer nodded. She knew that sort of feeling well; one didn't work in a military environment without losing friends and loved ones from time to time.

15151515

_A big man with black hair sat beside the lake with a much shorter brown haired woman. _

_She watched them sitting there, drawn for some reason. She came closer._

16161616

"Shouldn't you light incense or pray at a shrine?" Jennifer asked after a moment. "That's the usual method here, isn't it?"

"Something like that," Max agreed.

17171717

_A name came to her. Max. Max-sensei. She tried to wave and call out, but she had no arms with which to gesture or a mouth with which to speak._

18181818

"You would've liked her, I think." Max said as he idly skipped a stone across the water, his movements still jerky and awkward due to his injuries.

"How so?"

"She was strong," Max said as he grinned. "Protective of her friends, loyal to a fault. She was a bit motherly," he finished as Jennifer nodded. She really sounded like a good girl.

19191919

_Negi-sensei and Asuna-san and Evangeline-san, Makie and Ako and Chizuru-san and Natsumi-san, Kotarou-kun and Iincho-san, the names flooded in and she decided she missed them._

_But she had no arms with which to gesture or a mouth with which to speak. She thought hard, trying to remember. An arm, another arm, legs, a head; a torso they connect to. Bones. Skin. Hair. Organs. Heart, liver, stomach, intestines and glands. Miscellaneous slimy bits. Blood, bile, a brain. Lungs with which to breathe. Air to breath in and out. Her lungs were full of water, she couldn't breathe._

She couldn't breathe.

20202020

A faint ripple in the lake caught Max's attention and he trailed off from his conversation with the woman beside him in mid sentence as he looked out over the water, his eyes widening comically in an uncharacteristic expression of surprise.

Akira's head burst through the surface and she was born again, a new born baby at fifteen, flailing in the water as she tried to recall the skills she had had Before. She was just starting to get the hang of it when the big black haired man plucked her from the water.

"Akira! Akira…!" It seemed to be all he could say.

"…Max-sensei…?" she asked hesitantly. Then, more firmly: "Max-sensei."

And then he was carrying her and wading toward the shoreline where the woman waited, a wide-eyed and open-mouthed expression of surprise on her own face as she watched the two of them approach.

When he got to dry land, he set her on her feet and she fell to the ground, having never stood up before. Max took off his ever-present light coat and put it around her to hide her nakedness, and tried to speak. All he could do was repeat her name. "…Akira…"

She looked around and Max-sensei was there, speaking to her, and the woman was running down the gravel path toward the buildings on that end, and she wandered briefly how she knew these words, but decided it didn't matter. She felt warmth, and realized his arms were around her and she was hugging him back, and it was right. They were alike, they were kindred spirits. The woman returned with others and joined the two of them in their hug. She felt a spark of what could be called jealousy, but brushed it aside and put one arm around the newcomer as well. She could be there, too. Those two were two halves of a whole, just as she and Max-sensei were two halves of a whole. Together, the three of them were something greater.

She smiled happily.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: All that's left is the epilogue; expect it in a couple days.


	22. Chapter 22: Epilogue

**Still Waters Run Deep**: The End

* * *

"Man, I can't believe I missed everything," Misora lamented. She had been on vacation in the magic world and had missed the events at Mahora. All that had happened there was a failed terrorist attack on a gateport, luckily stopped by the famous war hero Jack Rakan. Not that she had been anywhere near the gateport at the time; God forbid anything interesting happened around _her_.

"It's ok Misora-san," Asuna said. "You should have seen it, when Max-sensei fought with the wind guy it was incredible! He really improved his standing with me then."

Setsuna nodded. "It's true, he proved himself very capable in that fight, even though he almost lost."

They were seated with several others at one of the newly-rebuilt cafes that dotted Mahora. Misora took a long sip of her drink. "I heard they released Eva-chan's curse."

Asuna nodded. "It was only temporary, but she was amazing too! You should have seen it, she wiped out the wind guy like this," she said, snapping her fingers. "It reminded me of our first trip to Kyoto, when she beat that giant demon."

"Max-sensei's living in an apartment with that mage Jennifer now," Kazumi butted in. "Over near the train station. They say it's every night," she added, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"Wha…"

"Every…"

*pow*

"Ow! Why did you do that, Akira-chan?" Kazumi whined as she rubbed her head.

"Don't spread rumors," Akira said as she sat down next to Asuna. She had quickly adapted to life here in Mahora again. She felt as if her past life before she awakened in the lake had been a dream, but more and more was coming back every day, and it seemed she had always adapted quickly.

"So how do you feel about all this, Akira-chan?" Kazumi asked.

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about," Akira said defensively. She had recalled that, as well.

"Oh, you know, we all know you and Max-sensei were so hot-n-heavy a while back. Didn't he ever tell you he was with another woman?"

Akira stirred her drink with a straw. "No, it wasn't like that," she said thoughtfully.

"Well how was it then?"

"I…I don't know. He was always nice," she finished lamely. Everyone drank their drinks and ate in silence for a few moments while that comment sank in.

"How's Tatsumiya-san?" Asuna asked after a moment.

"She will be fine, de gozaru," Kaede replied. Nobody had noticed her approach. "She has some bad burns, but will make a full recovery according to the doctors. She was lucky," she said, looking at Setsuna. "She had been practicing using paper doll clones like those you use, Setsuna-dono," Kaede said. "She slipped out at the last moment and let the clone take the main force of the explosion, de gozaru."

"How about the bad guys they caught? Asuna asked. "Last I heard, they were still in the hospital."

Kazumi answered this one. "Let's see…according to my notes, Nilren Riggs will make a full recovery, though Marlin had some severe injuries and will likely never walk without a limp or a cane again. Arvel, the one that tried to burn down Mahora, is comatose, and there is no telling when or if he will ever wake up." They sat around in silence for a moment, thinking about Madoka, who had beaten the man unconscious.

Kazumi flipped to a different page and continued on. "The wind guy, Guy Sculler, is dead. Somehow, he was…ah…ripped in two." Everyone shuddered at the thought. "The leader, Oscar Marshall, is dead too." Kazumi took a sip of her drink, glad she had declined to look at those particular pictures of the aftermath. "Apparently, he was playing politics in the American Division, misusing division funds, supplies, and personnel for private projects, like trying to capture Akira-chan, here. He was also under investigation for various crimes in Pakistan, Mexico, Canada, and several countries in South America at the time of his death. Apparently, most of the group he controlled before he was made head of the research division ended up dead or missing. Also, they say most of the American Division were not aware of his behind-the-scenes actions, and those who worked under him were just following orders from their boss. Most of them probably won't be charged with anything serious," she added. "According to my sources, they will most likely be sent to something called 'The Ermine Camp' in the magic world."

"Wow," Asuna said. "So how did you do that whole water thing, anyway?" she asked, turning to Akira.

Akira fidgeted and looked down at her drink. "I…don't remember. I just remember seeing Yuuna get hurt, and then…everything just sort of…went blue, I guess. The next thing I remember, I was getting pulled out of the lake by Max-sensei."

"I like your new eyes, by the way," Kazumi added, indicating the water girl's eyes, which were now a deep blue rather than their former normal shade of brown. "Very American."

Akira blushed a bit. "I…I have something to do," she said hastily and left.

"So what about the American Division?" Setsuna asked. "What will they do about Max-sensei and Akira-san now?"

Kazumi looked a bit troubled. "Well, it seems they don't want Akira running loose with that sort of power, but they can't really do anything about it without risking the wrath of the most powerful water elemental that's ever been born," she answered. "They don't want Max-sensei running loose as a strong fire elemental either, but he's considered to be under Akira's protection, so…" She shrugged. "Basically, they'll pretend that those two don't exist as long as they don't cause any problems," she said. "And of course Akira-san and Max-sensei are both under the protection of Headmaster Konoe now, so there's nothing to worry about there."

"Well, I have to go now, me and Madoka have an appointment with Eva-chan," Asuna said as she scraped her chair backward and stood up. When Setsuna looked at her inquiringly, she added "Something about hell-training. You know how Eva-chan is," she said as the others nodded. Eva's hell-training was legendary among Negi's group. "She says I'm not strong enough for the sword Konoka's dad gave me!" Asuna said in exasperation as Setsuna smiled. Eishun had decided to let Asuna-san, Negi-sensei, and Kono-chan keep the swords from the shrine ritual back in Kyoto. They were even now propped up in a corner back at the dorm. Asuna's sword tended to vibrate from time to time, as though it were annoyed to be placed so close to the others.

"Well, good luck with that," Kazumi said. "I've got things to do so…see you guys later!"

"Goodbye."

"See ya later!"

11111111

Akira walked along the sidewalk, gazing up at the sky. "It's so blue…" she said aloud.

"Nice, isn't it?"

She looked up at Max-sensei and Jennifer-san; he towered above the mage. For that matter, so did Akira. She bowed to them and received a smile in return. "See you in class, Max-sensei!"

THE END

* * *

**Author's Notes**: So that's it, then. I hope you guys liked it. It's full of errors and problems here and there, but it's pretty good for a first serious attempt, IMO.

Anyway, it's time to move on to the sequel of this story, which features more of the class, with an emphasis on characters that I feel need more development, such as the cheerleaders and Ayaka among others, not to mention members of Negi's group such as Kazumi. Max-sensei, Jennifer, and Akira will be back as well, though in more of a supporting role next time around.

In any case, important events have their consequences, and things always change. I hope you enjoyed this story, and I hope you will enjoy the next one as well.

Keep reading!


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